ALEXANDRIA, Egypt: The Alexandria Criminal Court, headed by Judge Mousa Nahrawy, yesterday received a 25-page criminal lab report in the Khaled Said case as well as the medical committee's autopsy report, including photographs of the victim. The technical committee, comprised of three professors from Egyptian medical colleges, concluded that the cause of death in the Khaled Said case was choking-induced asphysxiation, which means that it is unlikely that he died voluntarily when he swallowed a piece of hash. Cairo University's Nadia Abdel Moneim Hamid, Ain Shams University's Dr. Assad Najib and University of Alexandria's Dr. Wafa Mohamed Ibrahim make up the medical committee. The team delivered its report to the Criminal Court this morning. The injuries on the face and head were the result of an aggressive physical assault resulting in brain trauma, which lead to loss of consciousness, according to the report. This loss of consciousness would have rendered him unable to swallow the piece of hash. In light of this recent report, according to human rights experts, the charges against officers accused in the case should be elevated from unlawful arrest to homicide. The technical report also allows charges to be leveled against the former head coroner Dr. Sebaay Mohamed Sebaay for fabricating information in his autopsy report, sources said. The Court made copies available for the legal teams for the plaintiffs and the defendants, and instructed all parties not to copy or publish the report until the next hearing of the case on October 22. Last year Khaled Said was sitting in an internet café on Bobast Street in the Cleopatra district of Alexandria. Two plainclothes police officers from the Sidi Gaber police station arrived, began a search and asked for identification from all patrons. The plainclothes officers attempted to arrest Said for dodging military service and theft. The original report claims that Said had a piece of hash that he swallowed and choked on, leading to his death. The new technical committee's report contradicts the earlier autopsy report.
