Alaa Abdel Hady

Alaa was a diligent student and he had reaped the results of that diligence by joining the Faculty of Medicine at Ain Shams University. When the Revolution started he was in his fourth year at the faculty of medicine, but he used to manage his time well helping as a paramedic to save the injured at field hospitals.

A bullet shot by the armed forces during a violent crackdown at the ِEgyptian Cabinet sit-in hit him in the head ending his life as is detailed by the forensics report. Ten days after his death, results from his final exam came out, he received 9.5 out of 10. His activism did not negatively impact his educational achievement.

He regularly helped at the field hospital at Tahrir Square aiding doctors in treating the injured—to such an extent his FB profile listed his “place of work” was “Tahrir field hospital.”

The last words he wrote when he left his home for the final time: “I’m going to go down and see what’s going on there… may our Lord protect us.” According to the testimony of his peers, he stood firmly in the beginning when the attack on the sit-in began. As armed forces advanced on protesters on Qasr Al-Ayni Street, numerous people were injured. Alaa went to the field hospital to treat the wounded until they were attacked by armed forces. He received a bumberr of bruises, but did not back down. Protesters once again advanced onto Qasr Al-Ayni Street and Alaa headed to the forefront where he was shot in the head. He died before being transferred to Al-Qasr Al-Ayni Hospital—the hospital he dreamed of joining after his graduation.

When his friends and peers learned of his death, they gathered inside Zeinhom morgue. The first to come was Dr. Mamdouh Al-Kafarawy, the dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Ain Shams University at the time, he insisted on attending the autopsy to make sure the report matched the truth of a gunshot that led to his death.

His mother said that he used to participate in the political life at his university, the students’ sit-in protests demanding the overthrow of the faculties’ deans who were part of Mubarak’s regime. How he never stopped his volunteer work at field hospitals that were set up during the clashes.

His peers at the Faculty of Medicine in Ain Shams University sent a message to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, in which they wrote: “If you have agreed to carry out the responsibility of managing the matters of this country, then you must bring the murderers to trial… Alaa’s blood will not run cold, it will remain boiling with rage until you set up the gallows for his murderers.”

His faculty set up a memorial on their grounds indicating his date of birth and date of martyrdom, the day of the violent crackdown on the sit-in at the House of Representatives. Ahmed Saber, the president of the union of the faculty at the time, announced that the faculty would rename the renovated faculty mosque, martyr Alaa Abdel Hady in his honor.