Yahya Eid Mohamed Abdel Aal
Yahia was an employee on a contract at the Arab Contractors Company. He was a husband and a father of three children, he was constantly worried about the end of his contract since he needed to provide for his family. His wife assured him that things would be fine, but he was the sole provider of his children Ahmed, 15, Mohammed 11, and Hisham 7 years.
His wife told the story of his death in an interview published in Egyptian media, she said that he was assigned to perform some maintenance work at the palace of the deposed president Hosni Mubarak. He told her that he would stay there until the next day. That next day was the start of the Egyptian Revolution. Yahya firmly asked his wife to not allow their children to leave the house for any reason.
He did not return home the next day as he promised. It was at midday the next day when someone called her to tell her that her husband was injured and in the hospital. When she went to the hospital, it was total chaos She found her husband lying unconscious. Whenever he would gain consciousness he would say “The police shot us. It’s unjust what is happening.” Everyone in the hospital was screaming for help, but due to the many wounded, help was not immediate.
Yahya was shot by four bullets: one in his chest, one in his stomach, the third near his heart, and the fourth in the back. His wife says, he was trying to help the injured because he could not just witness a wounded person lying in the street and ignore it. Throughout his life he did nothing but focus on his work and care for his sons whose hearts are now broken.
“My children now cry bitter tears for their father every night. They do not know how their lives will go without their father. They have failed classes for the first time in their lives. They reject life, they do not accept it after their father being killed. They ask me who will study with them? Who will give them valuable life lessons? Who will teach them hard work and diligence?
Yahya’s son, Mohammed, spends most of his time in his room painting pictures of his father and filling his booklet with sketches. When his mother asked him why he is doing that he would says, “This is my life now.”