Egyptian student's death may remain mystery
While his family and human rights activists claim student Ahmed Medhat was killed in government custody in late August, political stagnation and economic difficulties mean such incidents aren't likely to spark another revolt.
When Ahmed Medhat, a medical student at Ain Shams University, left his sister’s house on the evening of Aug. 29, little did his family know that this was the last time he would be seen alive. After several failed attempts to reach him on his cellphone, his brother spent the night frantically searching for him at police stations and hospitals in the Cairo suburb of Nasr City — but to no avail.
It was not until the following morning that the family of 21-year-old Medhat finally received news of his whereabouts.
“We were told by a police officer at Nasr City police station that my son had been arrested the night before and we were asked to come back later for more information,” his father, Kamel Medhat, an engineer, told Al-Monitor.
He said, “When we returned a couple of hours later, another officer informed us that Ahmed had tried to escape by jumping out of a moving police van but fell to his death, fracturing his skull. He asked us to claim the body from Zeinhom morgue."
