Once Upon a Revolution by Thanassis Cambanis

Author:Thanassis Cambanis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Even in death, the murdered protesters weren’t free from persecution. The military exerted influence everywhere in order to delete evidence of its crimes. Under pressure, the coroner issued absurd death certificates that made no reference to bullet wounds or tire marks. The cause of death for a boy who had been shot was determined to be heart failure. An energetic priest named Father Filopatir, who had marched the night before with protesters, was now showing his more reactionary side. He supported Christian protesters within limits, but his main loyalty was the conservative church hierarchy, which definitely didn’t want to anger the SCAF. The priest was now taking the lead as the church’s fixer, trying to bully families into quick funerals without autopsies. Christians already grieving their personal losses had to contend with a church that seemed more interested in protecting killers than in sheltering its flock. For families reeling with grief, it was a degrading choice: accept a fraudulent death certificate to get the burial over with, or embark on a fight with the bureaucracy in the slim hope of future justice for the murder of a child or fiancé or sibling. There were twenty-four dead, most of them piled in the morgue at the Coptic Hospital. Their photographs already plastered Facebook and Twitter, often in montages that contrasted their mangled, bruised faces with snapshots from earlier times.

Sally roamed the hospital’s small interior courtyard, cornering relatives of the dead. Many of them were from rural areas and believed that the dead must be buried within a day. Softly, Sally tried to explain the importance of another small delay. A crime like the Maspero massacre might take years, or an eternity, to be justly reckoned, but it would never happen without a deliberate record, including proof of how the victims had been killed by the army. “We need the autopsy reports if there is ever going to be justice for our martyrs,” she explained. Even within her own community, Sally was trying to negotiate between the religious and the secular. After confronting another family, she slumped down on a bench. A diamond cross glittered on her neck where the cross-and-crescent unity pendant normally hung. Her face was swollen from sleeplessness and sadness. “So much superstition,” Sally said in frustration. “I can’t believe this!”

It was quieter in the courtyard than by the morgue, and the sun was less intense. Moaz, Sally, and Mostafa Shawqi, Mina Daniel’s friend, repaired to a long bench to wait.

“We told the families that we should find out how these people died now,” Moaz said. “If autopsies prove the military ran these people over, then the protests will be huge.”

Moaz had posted photos of the dead on his Facebook page and was looking at them again now. He was mourning the revolution, but also his friend Mina. After the Battle of the Camel in Tahrir, when Moaz had stitched up Mina’s temples, the two men had become friends. Mina had a sweet and disarming way of persuading Coptic

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.