(Photo from Islam Ghanem Facebook Account)
By Kenneth Changpertitum
Spokesman for the Forensics Authority Hisham Abdel Hamid confirmed Wednesday that student at Cairo University Islam Ghanem, who was killed Tuesday during clashes at the university, had died as a result of a birdshot wound.
According to a statement by the Ministry of Health, the student had been evacuated to a university hospital and his death had been pronounced at the hospital morgue.
Hamid stated: “The birdshot had been used was either of medium to large size.”
He added that the birdshot in question is “used for bigger animals and not birds”, although it is presently unconfirmed whether the shot had been fired from a homemade gun or a rifle.
However, spokesman for Students Against the Coup Youssef Moslem said that it had been a bullet not bird shot. “Whether it’s bird shot or a bullet, it’s all killing,” he said. “They shoot to kill.”
The killing of Islam Ghanem brings the student death toll to 16 in 2014, said Mohamed Abdel Salam of the Association for the Freedom of Thought and Expression’s Student Observatory, an independent group that monitors the political climate on university campuses.
Abdel Rahman Al-Shamy, a student coordinator at the faculty of engineering at Cairo University, said: “More than 50 students from our faculty have been arrested.”
Since October, many on-campus protests have turned violent between security forces and the Students Against the Coup (SAC), a coalition of supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi.
Student protesters have maintained their stance against the presence of Egyptian authorities on campus, following a severe crackdown by the government on Islamists’ street protests.
Clashes erupted Wednesday at Mansoura University after three Mansoura girls, who were arrested on 21 November when “police broke into the university” during protests, were sentenced to two and three year prison terms.
“Hundreds have been injured,” says Salam, in reference to the clashes. “The state uses violence to control students. They want to make students afraid and not protest. When students refuse, they will punish them.”
Ghanem’s funeral, held on Wednesday at Al Hosary Mosque in 6th of October City, was followed by a protest.
