"To he who controls my every thought, to he who controls my mind, to he who draws my eyes to him and makes my heart falter, I condense all these feelings into three words; I love you. Your love is jealousy and madness, your words are beautiful and light, your heart is good and kind but remains unclear to me. Your jealousy is wild and difficult like you." These are words written by Khaled Said's girlfriend, the same girl whom he sketched in graphite pencil. These words tell of a love story destroyed by the former regime, a regime that denied all Egyptians from the right to live and love. This from his girlfriend letter remains on Khaled Said's desk in his home in Alexandria. Khaled Said's family, who has not forgotten the young man who died at the hands of police, invited Youm7 into their home to remember the beginning of the story. On June 6, 2010, Khaled was sitting in an Internet Cafe on Bobast St. in the Cleopatra district of Alexandria. Two plainclothes policeman from Sidi Gaber police station came in and asked everyone to show them their ID and began to aggressively search everyone. When Khaled showed them his ID, they tried to arrest him on the grounds that he was avoiding being drafted by the army and he was formerly accused of theft. Khaled tried to escape from the police but he was pursued and caught and taken to the police station where he died after being brutally tortured. In Cleopatra Square, as Youm7 crosses the street to get to Khaled Said's home, a large number of cats accompany Youm7 writers in the same direction. When asked about this incident, Khaled's family said that the martyr liked to feed stray cats and they would often follow him home. On June 6, 2010, Khalid was screaming, "Leave me alone, you're killing me!" while trying to escape the hands of officers and detectives who tortured him to death. The martyr's family kept the room as he left it, all his possessions remain in the same place; his music tapes, the computer on which would play the ‘Doha' prayer as soon as he switched it on and on the wall remains the portrait of his girlfriend. Khaled's brother, Ahmed, who spent a long period of his life in America, said to Youm7, "The image of Khaled remains with us always. It was as if just yesterday he was here among us, he was such an ambitious young man." Ahmed said, "Khaled hated corruption of all kinds and he would often listen to speeches by former Egyptian Presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat that were recorded on his phone. He often spoke about leaving the country to build a future unmarred by corruption." Ahmed choked back his tears and told Youm7 a story about Khaleds compassion. “There was this one homeless man who used to sleep in a bus stop. He asked Khaled to take a shower and Khaled allowed him to. Khaled then cut the homeless man's hair for, fed him and gave him a little money. We'll never forget Khaled. All we want is justice." A friend of Khaled, Ahmed Demerdash said, “Khaled had many friends but he didn't go out very often. He preferred to go diving, to read and to daydream. What bothered Khaled most was that he could never find someone to talk to and to discuss his thoughts with."
