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| Africa North |
| Egypt orders new autopsy after activist death |
| 2010-06-17 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Egypt's attorney general has ordered a new autopsy on the body of a 28-year-old activist that rights groups said was beaten to death for exposing police corruption, state newspaper al-Ahram said on Wednesday. Police have denied any role in the death of Khaled Mohammed Said, who the Interior Ministry said on Saturday died from an overdose of drugs he swallowed before police approached him. The second autopsy, while welcomed by watchdog Amnesty International and the U.S. State Department, has not eased demands for a free and fair investigation of his death. "We urge that it be done transparently and in a manner consistent with the serious allegations that have been made," a State Department spokesman said in remarks on the department's website. He said Washington was concerned about the death. The United States, an ally and major aid donor, has criticized Egypt for violence in dealing with protesters and for renewing an emergency law, which critics say is used to stifle dissent. Egypt has dismissed such comments as interference. According to activists and human rights groups, Said was killed in the port city of Alexandria on June 6 after he posted an internet video which Said's family said showed police officers sharing the profits of a drug deal. The al-Nadeem Center, a rights group following the case, said undercover policemen confronted Said in an internet cafe, dragged him onto the street and beat him to death. Social networking sites posted images of his beaten face and body. Amnesty said the government had not shown it was serious in addressing the issue by its failure to suspend police officers who rights groups and Said's family say are responsible. "The fact that the two officers believed to have killed Khaled Mohammed Said have not been so far suspended is alarming and sends a chilling message that the security forces in Egypt are effectively above the law," the group said in a statement. "As such, they are left free to intimidate the victim's relatives into silence or to force them to withdraw their complaints," it said, calling for witness protection measures. Said's death has triggered protests, where opposition groups, dubbing the activist as the "martyr of the emergency law," clashed with security forces. Egypt last month extended until 2011 an emergency law that gives police wide-ranging powers including indefinite detentions without charge and limiting the freedom of public assembly. While, officials say it is now limited to terrorism and drug cases, activists say the law is designed to quell dissent. |
| Posted by:Fred |