Egypt

Forensic report: Cabinet protesters killed by live ammunition

The Forensic Medicine Authority has completed 10 forensic reports detailing how protesters were killed during bloody clashes last week on Qasr al-Aini Street in downtown Cairo.

Ehsan Kamil Georgi, the head of the authority, said the reports will likely be finalized Saturday and sent to judges.

Georgi told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the authority has completed autopsies on 10 people, all of whom died from gunshot wounds. Georgi said the victims were shot with 9 mm bullets. The bullets were fired from a distance of more than half a meter, making it difficult to determine the exact distance between the shooter and his victim, he added.

Georgi added that Alaa Abdel Hady, a medical student who was killed while assisting the wounded during the clashes, was killed by a bullet shot to the face that exited through the back of his head. Sheikh Emad Effat of Al-Azhar was shot in the pelvis.

Georgi said that the bullets were not all fired from the same direction.

He emphasized that members of the authority were not pressured to produce certain results. “If even one doctor says he was subjected to pressure, I will immediately resign,” he said.

Ashraf al-Refaie, vice manager of the authority, said he oversaw the autopsy of a young man who died in detention. Refaie said he died of head injuries that led to bleeding on the surface of the brain.

When asked if the young man had been tortured, he said, “We found injuries that may have resulted from the use of a stick on his body.” A final forensic report will be submitted to judges on Sunday at the latest, he said.

For three weeks protesters held a sit-in in front of the cabinet building opposing the nomination of Kamal al-Ganzouri as prime minister and the continuation of military rule. The military attempted to forcibly disperse the demonstration on 16 December, prompting clashes that lasted five days and left at least 17 dead and hundreds injured.

Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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