Hend Hisham Kamal
Hend was the 3rd child in her family and a student in her third year at the Faculty of Arts in the Arabic Language Department. Her mother used to think of her as a younger sister not just her daughter.
Her mother said: “She was my sister, my friend, and my daughter. Tender and kind, she added a beautiful spirit to the house. She would arrange a family gathering every Friday for us all to meet.” Her father added: “Hend would take over for her mother when she was away. She was also invested in studying things beyond what she was learning in university—she was studying human development.”
He younger sister said: “I came home from school one day and she told me not to walk into the room until after I tell you. I found her making a schedule for prayer and studying, showing kindness to our parents, memorizing the Qur’an, and whenever I had done something I would put a check mark. If I forgot to fulfill something I would put a mark indicating that I had missed it. we used to devote time to exchanging stories during which she would share with me all her secrets and I would share mine. I would tell her what’s happening to me at school and we would consult with each other on everything.”
Her mother recalls Hend buying a new notebook for the year 2013. She wrote on the first page of the new notebook: “Oh Allah, I ask you for martyrdom”.
On the day of her murder, she woke up to the sound of her mother crying after hearing the news that the Rabaa sit-in was met with brutal force. She calmed her mother down and then phoned a friend to go to the sit-in with her, hoping that she would be able to offer some help. However, it was impossible to reach the sit-in so she joined a march and arrived at El-Sa’aa Square in Nasr City (near the sit-in).
There she joined a field hospital that was set up to help the injured, but police forces attacked the field hospital and Hend was injured. She was transported to a hospital to undergo a surgery to remove two bullets—one in the liver and another in the spleen. She was moved to the intensive care and placed under artificial ventilators. When her family tried to transport her to another hospital she died.
After the surgery, the doctor said the bullet that was used had exploded inside Hend’s body with pieces of it found in her lung (which is why ventilators were necessary after her operation). The bullet fragments also reached her spinal cord causing paralysis in the lower half of her body.