Islam Mohamed Abdel Kader Bakir
Islam was the youngest of four brothers. His dream was to marry the girl he loved. He studied at the Faculty of Arts at Cairo University and graduated from the Department of European Civilization in 2010. He began to attend several courses to prepare himself for a good job. In addition, he was trying to improve his languages skills. He sent his resumes to many companies. He passed an interview to be a flight attendant, but he didn’t get the job as the other person, allegedly one with better connections got it. Islam then worked as a salesperson in Carrefour to help cover his personal expenses.
On Tuesday, January 25, 2011, Islam joined the demonstrations in Tahrir Square. He received several rubber bullets to his foot and on the “Day of Rage/Friday of Anger” he was in Tahrir Square. The telecommunications were cut and he went to a nearby hotel to call his parents, followed by his fiancée. It wasn’t too long after this phone call that he was shot and killed by security forces.
A friend informed his family that he had been injured and they went out to search for him at nearby hospitals. They didn’t find him. Later they found out that a friend of his took his dead body to his home. At 6:00 am they went to this friend’s house to see his body.
According to one of his friends, a few days before he was killed he tried to find a job. He went to his friend’s home to email some recruiting companies since he didn’t have internet access at home. According to his mother in an interview in 2011, Islam was not involved in politics. The revolution was the first political activity he ever participated in—he only wanted freedom and social justice.