By Dallas Steele
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

[Warning: Graphic photo at the end of the article.]

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt– Twenty-eight-year-old Khaled Said was forcibly dragged from an internet café and savagely beaten to death by two plainclothes police officers in broad daylight. Although Khaled’s death occurred on June 6, 2010, public prosecutors have not yet summoned for interrogation any of the key players involved in the incident, including the two plainclothes officers involved in the death.  The lack of accountability by investigators, and allegations that Khaled was intentionally murdered by the police have sparked a wave of demonstrations across Alexandria.

One of the nine witnesses that came forward as witnesses to the beating, Haitham Misbah, the son of the internet café owner, told investigators how the plainclothes officers did not ask Khaled any questions before they began to beat him. Misbah described how the officers continually smashed Khaled’s head against a marble wall and iron wrought fence before he fell to the ground and was continually kicked long after he stopped moving. Numerous witnesses say Khaled’s last words were, “I am dying. I am going to die.” Allegedly, the plainclothes officers replied:“You’re already dead.”

Misbah said that when he attempted to intervene, the officers told him to stay out and threatened to shut down the café. Other witnesses have only recently come forward for fear of reprisal from law enforcement authorities in the area.

The initial investigation by the local prosecutor concluded that Khaled died of asphyxiation after swallowing a packet of drugs when he saw the plainclothes officers approaching him. The investigation into Khaled’s death reportedly failed to gather any evidence from the scene of the crime or interview any witnesses. The two plainclothes officers allegedly responsible for Khaled’s death remain on active duty and have yet to be questioned by the prosecutor. Furthermore, reports have emerged that the officers responsible for Khaled’s death returned to the area of the incident days later and threatened people not to cause trouble for them.

After public protest over the incompetence of the first inquisition, a second, higher-level investigation was conducted. The forensic medical investigation in the second inquest also said that the cause of Khaled’s death was asphyxiation. However, the second medical report also stated that Khaled suffered numerous injuries from the beatings and concluded that there was “nothing to prevent the injuries from having occurred as a result of beating during the arrest of the victim.”

The entire incident has caused a public uproar in Egypt, and has resulted in various demonstrations. Certain individuals protesting Khaled’s death and the two inquests are claiming that Khaled was targeted for trying to expose official corruption in the area. Others are claiming that Khaled’s death is direct evidence that Egypt’s emergency law, created thirty years ago following President Sadat’s assassination by an Islamic militant, has created a culture of police impunity in Egypt.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Mohamed ElBaradei leads Egypt ‘police death’ protest – 25 June 2010

CNN – Demonstrators in Egypt rail against brutality, man’s death – 25 June 2010

Human Rights Watch – Egypt: Prosecute Police in Beating Death – 24 June 2010