Activists and martyrs` families respond to innocent verdict in case of officers accused of killing protesters on `Friday of Rage` with call for protest outside the country`s highest judicial authority.
Thirty activists and martyrs’ families called for a protest before the High Court, Egypt`s highest judicial authority, on Saturday at 12pm in response to the acquittal on Thursday by the Cairo Criminal Court of four police officers and one non-commissioned police officer accused of killing protesters during the 18-day uprising in January.
The officers were facing charges of killing five protesters and intending to kill another six, in front of Sayeda Zeinab Police Station near downtown Cairo during 28-29 January 2011.
On 28 January, known as the “Friday of Rage,” several police stations were stormed by protesters across the country.
The organisers of the protest issued a statement in which they asserted their faith in the ‘fair Egyptian judiciary,’ calling for the establishment of an independent fact-finding committee to investigate the killing of peaceful demonstrators.
In the statement, they also expressed concern that ousted president Hosni Mubarak and his associates,whose trial is scheduled to resume on Monday 2 January, would be acquitted and released.
The activists and martyrs’ families reasserted in the statement their determination to work towards achieving the revolution’s demands in spite of the considerable human rights abuses seen since January 2011, including murders, arrests, and discrediting of the revolutionaries.
Signatories to the statement from the martyrs’ families include: Aly Hassan Aly; Mostafa Mohamed; Yasser Abd Al-Aal; Galal Faisal; Mohamed Gomaa Shafek; Shaker Abd Al-Fatah; and Mohamed Abd Al-Hamid.
Signatories to the statement from activists’ side include Yahia Al-Kazaz of the Kefaya Movement, Khaled Abd Al-Hamid of the Revolutionary Youth Coalition, and Ahmed Imam of the National Front for Democracy and Justice.
In solidarity with the families of martyrs in the Sayeda Zeinab district, grassroots initiative Kazeboon (Liars) will hold a public screening of footage from the 18-day uprising on Friday evening in the area.
[Developed in partnership with Ahram Online.]
From Jadaliyya Editors:
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