Police officers involved in alleged shootout with Ain Shams student summoned for questioning

The East Cairo Prosecution has summoned police officers for questioning over the death of Ain Shams University student Islam Salah Eddin, who was, according to the Interior Ministry, allegedly killed after he opened fire on security personnel during an attempted arrest in the southeast of Cairo, privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm reported. The police officers that have been summoned were reportedly part of the task force that was responsible for arresting Salah Eddin.

The Interior Ministry had stated that Salah Eddin was killed in the Fifth Settlement, where his body was ultimately found, claiming he was wanted for alleged involvement in the assassination of Colonel Wael Tahoun. The ministry further accused the engineering student of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The prosecution also summoned a number of Salah Eddin’s colleagues, as well as the Dean of the School of Engineering and other staff members and security personnel on campus.

However, the Ain Shams Engineering Student Union provides a conflicting account in a statement, in which they claim that their classmate was arrested on campus and then killed by Interior Ministry personnel at an unknown location.

According to the statement, the student, popularly known as Atitu, was taking an exam with his fellow students in the electric power department when an unknown individual entered the room accompanied by a faculty member. They requested that Salah Eddin go the student affairs office following the exam.

The unidentified person allegedly waited outside of the examination area until Salah Eddin finished, then left with him. This was the last time Salah Eddin was seen alive by his classmates.

“[The state] killed him in cold blood. He was accused and convicted without a just trial. These actions are fascist, there are no other ways to describe them,” the statement read, adding, “We could never have imagined that our dreams of freedom, truth and justice would turn into this nightmare.”

On Sunday, the university’s Faculty of Engineering released a statement saying that the East Cairo prosecutor visited the campus to listen to the testimonies of eyewitnesses of Salah Eddin’s alleged kidnapping.

The prosecution also reviewed the campus’ surveillance cameras and obtained a copy of the footage from that day. It also listened to the testimony of the head of the committee where Salah Eddin was taking the exam.

The university explained that it issued the statement because it is “keen on being transparent,” and to avoid the spread of false information.

Mohamed Hassan Soliman, a professor at the Faculty of Engineering who has been actively involved in the case, posted on his Facebook page that he submitted Salah Eddin’s examination paper to the prosecution to prove that he had attended the exam.

The March 9 movement for the independence of universities issued a statement condemning the crimes committed against students, last of which was Salah Eddin’s murder, saying it is one of a series of violent acts by police against students since 2013.

The statement listed a number of examples where students were killed on campus, mostly in clashes with security forces, saying perpetrators are not identified, let alone prosecuted.

The movement said the Interior Ministry continues to deny such acts despite testimonies, image and footage that implicate the police.

“Confronting political and ideological currents as well as protests with this kind of violence that is disproportionate to the students’ behavior will only lead to more extremism and violence,” the statement warned, “which will nurture the roots to terrorism which the state claims to be fighting.”