CAIRO: New forensic evidence has emerged in the case of Khaled Said, the young activist whose death last summer helped to spark uprisings in Egypt earlier this year. The new evidence shows that the young man died from asphyxiation when an object was stuffed into his mouth while he was unconscious. The trial investigating Said's death has been adjourned until October 22 so that lawyers may examine the new evidence. Mousa al-Nahrawi, the judge presiding over the investigation, has called for a media blackout for the next court sessions in order to “ensure a proper conduct of justice.” The court has asked a committee of forensic experts from three Egyptian universities to review reports on the cause of Said's death as well. Two police officers, Awad Suleiman and Mahmoud Salah, are under investigation for Said's death. The two police officers are currently charged with illegal arrest and the use of excessive force, however activists believe that the new evidence will allow prosecutors to raise the charges to manslaughter. Police originally maintained that Khaled Said, 28, died when he stuffed a bag of drugs into his mouth and choked on the bag. Witnesses, however, said that police dragged Said from an Internet café in Alexandria last summer and brutally beat him. The police officers then reportedly forced a bag of drugs into the man's mouth, claiming that Said himself tried to swallow the bag when he was caught with drugs. The forensic report released this week indicates that Said did indeed suffer a brutal beating just before his death, and was asphyxiated when he was already unconscious. This evidence counter's the police officers' version of the story. “The victim had been subjected to beating and a roll was stuffed inside his mouth by force while he was unconscious,” stated the newly released, 25-page forensic report. Khaled Said's death in the summer of 2010 sparked protest throughout Egypt. A campaign called “We are all Khaled Said” was organized after the young mans death, and served as a forum for activists and political organizers to speak out against corruption and police brutality. A picture of Said's face, maimed by the police beating, quickly spread around the Internet and social media networks. The picture is now iconic of Egypt's legacy of police brutality and torture. The “We are all Khaled Said” Facebook page was an important forum for organizing the January 25 uprisings that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak earlier this year. BM
