CAIRO: Egyptian police in Alexandria, for the third time this year, have murdered an Egyptian citizen. According to reports coming from the country's second largest city, Mustafa Attia was attacked in broad daylight by plainclothes police officers on Tuesday and beaten to death. Al-Ahram newspaper reported the 39-year-old was dragged along the street, witnesses to the violence said. Attia's family told local reporters that his body was currently in the morgue awaiting a death certificate and a medical report. Attia allegedly was facing a legal case for defaulting on a bank loan. It is the third killing by Alexandria police this year and second in a month's time. Last month, 19-year-old Ahmed Shaaban was killed by Alexandria police at the now infamous Sidi Gabr police station. He was reported to have been tortured before succumbing to his injuries. Police dumped his body in a nearby lake, his family said. It was the same police station that was responsible for blogger Khaled Said's murder, which left the Egyptian activist community enraged and frustrated over police violence in the country. “This is becoming outrageous that police continue to take these people and beat them to death,” said activist Yussif Ibrahim in Alexandria. “When will the government step in? How many more Khaled Said cases will this country have before things change?” Said's death sparked widespread anger from Egypt's burgeoning online activists and saw a number of protests in Alexandria for the slain activist. Again, police are resorting to claims of violence on Attia's part, in line with what was said of Shaaban and Said's cases. In Said's murder, police argued he was withholding drugs and suffocated after swallowing a bag of narcotics. The initial investigation by prosecutors brought two witnesses, provided by the police, who claimed that Khaled Said swallowed a packet of drugs when he saw the policemen. One of the prosecutors ordered a medical examination which proved that Said died of asphyxiation. Further, the Ministry of Interior released a statement in which it was claimed that Said was a wanted criminal with two convictions in absentia; however, his family denied this and eyewitnesses told the media that he was murdered by police. Attorney-General Abdel Magid Mahmoud ordered the investigation to be re-opened and appointed a committee of three doctors to conduct a new forensic investigation. Their report confirmed that the cause of death was asphyxiation and the injuries on his body were a result of the beatings during arrest. “Witness accounts and the photographs of Khaled Said's mangled face constitute strong evidence that plainclothes security officers beat him in a vicious and public manner,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “All those involved should be speedily interrogated, and the prosecutor should fully investigate what caused the fractures and trauma clearly evident on his body.” Photos of Said's battered and deformed face published on the internet show a fractured skull, dislocated jaw, broken nose, and numerous other signs of trauma. Khaled's brother, Ahmed Said, confirmed the authenticity of the pictures to Human Rights Watch. Nine witnesses came forward to describe the beating. BM
