"We are all Khaled Said"

Death of Khaled Mohamed Saeed

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Khaled Mohamed Saeed
Khaled Mohamed Saeed
Born	January 27, 1982
Died	June 6, 2010 (aged 28)
Nationality	Egyptian

Khaled Mohamed Saeed (Arabic: خالد محمد سعيد‎ IPA: [ˈxæːled mæˈħæmːæd sæˈʕiːd]; January 27, 1982 – June 6, 2010) was a young Egyptian man who died under disputed circumstances in the Sidi Gaber area of Alexandria on June 6, 2010, after being arrested by Egyptian police. Photos of his disfigured corpse spread throughout online communities and incited outrage over allegations that he was beaten to death by Egyptian security forces. A prominent Facebook group, "We are all Khaled Said", brought attention to his death and contributed to growing discontent in the weeks leading up to the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. ^[1]

Saeed was raised by his mother and the rest of his extended family after the death of his father when he was young. Showing an interest in computers, he stayed for some time and studied computer programming in the United States. He also loved music and had been composing a musical piece before his death.^[2]

Death

Post mortem image of Khaled Saeed's corpse in the morgue

On June 6, 2010, Saeed had been sitting on the second floor of a cybercafe. Two detectives from the Sidi Gaber police station entered the premises and arrested him, allegedly beating him and smashing him against objects as he was led outside to their police car.^[3]

Multiple witnesses have testified that Saeed was beaten to death by the police,^[4] but the police reported that Saeed had suffocated in an attempt to swallow a packet of hashish, supported by two autopsy reports of the Forensic Authorities.^[5] The police further stated that Saeed was "wanted for theft and weapons possession and that he resisted arrest."^[6] Two police officers were later jailed for four days pending questioning on beatings that they allegedly carried out on Saeed.^[7] It was stated by family members that he was "tortured to death for possessing video material that implicates members of the police in a drug deal."^[8]

The owner of the internet cafe in which Saeed was arrested stated that he was a witness to Saeed being beaten to death in the doorway of the building across the way after the detectives took him out of the cafe at the owner's request:

"We thought they would just interrogate him or ask him questions. But they took him as he struggled with his hands behind his back and banged his head against the marble table inside here," Mosbah said in an interview conducted by a journalist from the liberal opposition al-Ghad newspaper. Mosbah said he told the police to take it outside and they hauled Said into the doorway of a nearby building. He did not emerge alive, said the cafe owner.

During an interview with the opposition party, El-Ghad's, newspaper, he was reported stating, "They dragged him to the adjacent building and banged his head against an iron door, the steps of the staircase and walls of the building...Two doctors happened to be there and tried in vain to revive him but (the police) continued beating him". This description given by the owner was confirmed as valid by the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights.^[9]

Former chief medical examiner of Egypt, Ayman Fouda, was interviewed about the proper procedure that should have been followed for Saeed's autopsy. He stated that the "mechanics of the injuries" that Saeed had sustained should have been investigated and his brain should have also been tested to see whether he had had a concussion, as the medical examiner that had conducted the autopsy had done neither.^[10]