CAIRO: At Cairo's Zeinhom morgue, the number of deceased has been rising beyond any number to be found in newspapers, official statements or Health Ministry reports. Here, the unofficial number of deceased in Tahrir as communicated by doctors from inside on Wednesday, had reached a staggering 32 people, and was rising by the hour. This puts the number of dead in the five days of fighting to over 90, according to Bikyamasr.com reports. “Their names were Hassan, Mohammed, Ismaeil, Ramadan … and three women!” a relative recounted, determined to convey what had happened. As relatives crowded in the shabby courtyard of the morgue, a white van took away their beloved father, husband and friend. A woman cried out in grief as the car took off. Standing by her side with a little girl, a woman was staring coldly out into the empty air. She was young and dressed completely in black like all other women in the courtyard. She is the wife of the young man who was taken away. His name was Hassan Said Hassan. He was 23-years-old and together they had a daughter of 6-years-old. He was shot on Sunday in Mahmoud Mohammad street, where he was facing police and army. Three bullets hit him in the stomach. As he had been operated on Monday, they had cut open his stomach to remove the bullets, but the efforts to save his life had been in vain, and he died Tuesday night. Next to the empty coffins stashed in the morgue courtyard, friends gathered around the BikyaMasr.com reporter. They were eager to show photos and get every detail on paper. “He was fighting in Mahmoud Mohammed … now he is martyr,” one friend said. Another friend digged out his death certificate from his pocket and offered the reporter to keep it. It read the cause of death was a “heart attack.” A manipulation of the cause of death is one of the main reasons that the actual death toll remains very unclear. Egyptian authorities have reportedly forced the families of those killed in the square to sign documentation that their loved ones died of natural causes, in an attempt to keep an official death count low. But in Tahrir Square and the surrounding streets, one cannot miss the overwhelming amount of wounded and mourning. The numbers of injured due to live ammunition stand as a fierce proof that the Egyptians are at current are being massacred and wounded in a systematic manner by the authorities in power. Suddenly, the morgue courtyard stirred. Relatives were banging the metal door to the morgue in desperation, as they were not allowed in. The banging kept on until a young man fainted in emotional and physical stress, and friends carried him away. People waiting in the courtyard went calm again. Their faces looking empty and battered and would then suddenly twist into cries. And elderly man entered among the waiting. He raised his hands to the sky and walked staggering. “Why, why, he was 15!” he yelled, and people rushed to comfort him. In cries, he told the story of his nephew who had exited school coming from an exam, and had been shot to death when entering the street. BM
