CAIRO: Friends and family of a man killed at an army checkpoint in the early hours of Saturday morning are demanding a full investigation into his death.
Ramy Fakhry, a 27-year-old electrical engineer who worked at the Egyptian Drilling Company, died as a result of bullet wounds received at an army checkpoint somewhere in the governorate of Damietta. The checkpoint’s exact location is unknown.
There were distressing scenes of grief at the St. Mark Church in Heliopolis, Cairo, on Saturday evening as a funeral service was held in a packed church where Fakhry had served as a deacon.
“If you love Ramy pray now, because Ramy used to love prayer,” the priest leading the service said to mourners during the service.
Fakhry was described as a popular and likeable man. Friends said that it is “impossible” that he would have disobeyed an army order.
Why the army opened fire is still unknown. Fakhry was driving back to Damietta where he worked from Cairo after attending a wedding. Friends say he left the wedding party at some point between 11 pm and 11:30 pm on Friday.
When he failed to show up for work the next morning, Fakhry’s employers made enquiries and discovered that his body was in the Salaheyya General Hospital in El-Sharqeyya. Friends say Fakhry had been taken there, already dead, at around 3:15 am.
The Salaheyya General Hospital refused to comment on the case.
One of Fakhry’s friends said that an army representative told his family that a soldier had fatally shot Fakhry “accidentally” and that the soldier is now under investigation.
According to one, unconfirmed, version of events, Fakhry stopped his car just short of the checkpoint when he saw a gunfight between the army and assailants ahead of him and was shot three times in the back as he attempted to drive away.
Fakhry’s car has still not been delivered to his family, friends say.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has not commented publicly on Fakhry’s death.
