The Alexandria Criminal Court today discussed with the head of the Third Forensic Investigative Unit, El-Sebaey Ahmed, the forensic report on the death of Khaled Saeed in July. This unit is accused of hiding details of torture in a second forensic report.
Police officers Mahmoud Salah Mahmoud and Awad Ismael Soliman are accused of beating to death 28-year old Saeed. They respond that Saeed did not die under torture, but that he overdosed on a piece of hash he swallowed.
Ahmed stated that it is physically impossible that the piece of hash the defence claims caused the death of Saeed had been forced in the deceased’s mouth. He explained that the jaw is one of the strongest muscles of the human body and that it could not have been forced open.
He also added that the forensic report shows no signs of injuries on Saeed’s face, proving that his mouth was not forced open.
However, the lawyer of Saeed’s family said that the first forensic report revealed that some of Saeed’s teeth were missing, a fact refuted in the second report presented by Ahmed.
Saeed’s family presented three different
forensic reports and requested from the court that other doctors are summoned to testify in court, a demand the court said it accepted.
The court session was stopped when a fight erupted between Saeed’s family and the family of the accused. No details were available on when it will reconvene.
Khaled Saeed’s case has triggered popular outrage across the country, but especially in his home city of Alexandria. Several demonstrations held in Alexandria and Cairo demanded the prosecution of the police officers responsible for Saeed’s death and protested early attempts at a police cover-up of the killing.
Pictures of a visibly beaten Saeed circulated through social media sites after his death as evidence that he was tortured.
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