Hundreds of residents from Nazlet Taha, the home village of Mostafa Ahmed, shot dead on Tuesday by a low-ranking police officer in New Cairo, attended his funeral on Wednesday and demanded retribution.
Ahmed, 20, held a diploma in agriculture. He left his family in Nazlet Taha village, Minya governorate, five years ago to work in Cairo.
According to a statement released by the Interior Ministry Tuesday, the shooting followed a disagreement over the price of a drink, which turned into a fight between Ahmed and others against police officer al-Sayyed Zenhom. Zenhom shot Ahmed and injured two passersby with his gun during the fight in Rehab City, the statement added.
According to the forensic report, Ahmed received three bullet wounds, which caused his death.The public prosecutor consented to the burial of Ahmed's body after autopsy.
The victim's uncle, Youssef Khalaf, said Ahmed worked at a roadside tea stall he established in Rehab City.
Zenhom used to drink tea regularly at Ahmed's stall, Khalaf said. He would drink without paying, until the point where he owed Ahmed LE24. On the day of the incident, Ahmed insisted Zenhom pay for the drinks. When the latter refused, the fight broke out, said Khalaf.
Another uncle of the victim, Arafat Labib, told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Wednesday that his family headed to Cairo to transfer Ahmed's body to Minya for burial.
"It is unbelievable that a man who left his hometown in far Upper Egypt to earn a living could be shot dead over LE24," Labib said.
Labib expressed his confidence that justice would be done by the Egyptian judiciary in his nephew's case.
Political Science Professor in the American University in Cairo and former MP Amr Hamzawy deprecated the killing of Ahmed in a Tweet on Wednesday morning.
"The rights of an individual, stopping violations, prosecuting those involved, achieving transitional justice and upholding the citizen's dignity should come first," Hamzawy wrote on Twitter.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
