The ongoing autopsy of alleged torture victim Sa’ad Said could offer strong evidence that Said was indeed tortured to death by the police.
Said was arrested in late November following a fight which erupted in his neighbourhood in Giza; though not involved in the fight, he was taken into police custody.
Protesters gathered outside the Zeinhom Morgue on Saturday, where Said’s body is being examined, calling for retribution. Said’s family filed a report soon after Said’s death, accusing Major Hisham Abdel Gawwad of torturing Said to death at the Giza police station.
“One forensic doctor working on Said’s case told me Saturday that Said died due to a brain edema caused by a strong bump on the head,” Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, lawyer at Al-Nadeem centre for rehabilitation of torture and violence victims, said. Abdel-Aziz, who is handling Said’s case, added that the death occurred when Said wasn’t treated right away.
“We are now waiting on the special report of the chemical laboratory,” Abdel Aziz said, referring to a report on the deceased’s brain dissection, to confirm the cause of death. The primary report of the forensics stated the presence of bruises and wounds on Said’s body.
Torture victims have seldom received justice in Egypt. Ahmed Yousry, programme and workshops coordinator at Hisham Mubarak Law Centre (HMLC), stated that by the end of Morsy’s first three months in power, the period of time he promised to be done with his 100-days program, 33 people were killed while in police detention.
