Suit Against Morsi To Recognise Slain April 6 Member Jika A ‘Martyr’

The office of lawyer and former presidential candidate Khaled Ali has filed a lawsuit to establish slain member of the April 6 Youth Movement Gaber Salah, also known as Jika, as one of the revolution’s martyrs.

The lawsuit, lodged at an administrative court, is against President Mohamed Morsi and Prime Minister Hisham Qandil. Prominent leftist lawyer Ali legally represents the April 6 Youth Movement.

Jika was killed in November 2012 during protests on the first anniversary of the Mohamed Mahmoud Street clashes. He was shot in the head and chest with rubber bullets. No one has been held accountable for his death. He was 16 years old.

Mohamed Adel, one of the leading members of the April 6 Youth Movement, said that although Egypt’s presidency officially mourned the death of Jika, he was never recognised or registered as one of the revolution’s martyrs.

“All the demands he was calling for were the demands of the revolution, which Mohamed Morsi now claims to be working hard to fulfill,” Adel was quoted as saying by Al-Ahram’s Arabic language website.

Apart from the honour, state authorities pay a sum of money to the families of those who considered martyred in the revolution.

Categorising the fallen as martyrs began shortly after the 2011 revolution, during which Hosni Mubarak’s police forces opened fire on protesters, killing hundreds in a failed attempt to nip the national uprising in the bud.

After the fall of Mubarak, more protesters were killed in violent events under the interim rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. Some of those number were also considered martyrs.

Ahram