Khaled Said (Khalid Sa‘id, Khaled Saeed) was an ordinary 28 year-old resident of Alexandria, Egypt until his death, three years ago today, on June 6, 2010. Within days, he was transformed into a symbol, an everyman beaten to death by police. A few months later he became the face of a revolution. The Facebook Page "We are all Khaled Said." and its much more widely read Arabic equivalent, كلنا خالد سعيد were among the major organizational tools of the January 25 revolution.
As best I can determine, my first discussion of the incident was on June 14. Because this previously anonymous young man became an icon for millions who had never met him, and his mother has been a heroine for many of the revolutionaries, it's a useful balance to also recall Amro Ali's piece for Jadaliyya, "Saeeds of Revolution: De-Mythologizing Khaled Saeed."During the revolution, there were even jokes:
Not to mention tributes: unofficial (?) "Street of the Martyr Khaled Said" plaque on his old street in Alexandria:
Posts
1 comment:
JUSTICE DENIED
The two policemen convicted in Said's murder were just released from prison pending a retrial decides again their guilt or innocence.
This follows by a few weeks the announcement of yet ANOTHER coroner's report on the death of activist Mohamed El Guindy. Despite a witness and the officer who tortured the young man to death identified, the government has retreated to the original version of their story...he was in a traffic accident!!
Post a Comment