Iconic protester who lost sight in right-eye during January uprising only to be injured in Mohamed Mahmoud battle in November has now lost sight in both eyes.
Ahmed Harara, who became a revolution icon after losing both his eyes in two different protest crackdowns, arrives to Cairo Sunday evening upon a medical visit to France, during which he learned he will not regain sight in his left eye.
Harara lost the vision in his right eye when he sustained a rubber bullet injury during the bloody 28 January police crackdown on peaceful protests during the eighteen-day uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak. He subsequently lost his left eye the same way on 19 November when police and army forces violently dispersed a sit-in at Tahrir Square.
The thirty-one-year-old dentist, travelled to Paris a week ago hoping that a transplant would restore some vision in his left eye, but received the unfortunate news that the transplant would not be effective.
To welcome him at the airport, Harara’s friends created a Facebook event, and soon the call spread around Facebook and became a public invitation. He is expected to arrive this evening between 7 and 10 pm.
Harara was chosen by Time Magazine in its special Person Of the Year edition which depicted “the protester,” showcasing thirty-six iconic activists who have participated in protests in 2011 around the world. In the Time interview under the title "Why I protest: Ahmed Harara of Egypt,” he discussed his hopes for the transplant as well as his opposition to military rule in Egypt.
[Produced in partnership with Ahram Online.]
From Jadaliyya Editors:
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