Egypt: El Baradei Joins Anti-Torture Rally (Al Jazeera)

UPDATE 1100 GMT: Mohammad El Baradei has given an interview to the Los Angeles Times: "I keep telling [Egyptians] that nothing will change in a country of 80 million people through one person. This is the myth. The challenge is to demystify it. They need to grow up and understand."

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Al Jazeera English reports this morning:

Mohammad El Baradei, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has led a protest against alleged abuses by the police in the Egyptian city of Alexandria.

At least 4,000 people greeted El Baradei, who has become a prominent pro-democracy campaigner, as he arrived to offer condolences to the family of Khaled Mohammed Saeed, an Egyptian youth who human rights groups say was beaten to death by police.

The protest on Friday, which was ElBaradei's second public appearance this month and the first in which his family have joined him, was his biggest rally since he returned to Egypt after leaving the IAEA.

Crowds chanted pro-democracy slogans and waved images of Saeed while El Baradei, flanked by worshippers, emerged from a mosque after Muslim prayers.

Youths and activists from political and online groups including the Facebook group "El Baradei for presidency of 2011" joined the protest. Some chanted "Down Down [Egyptian president] Hosni Mubarak" and "Saeed you are a martyr" while rushing to meet El Baradei.

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Comments

[Catherine]

For the last week, I've been wanting to post some information on the protests against the death of Khaled Mohamed Saied, but there wasn't an appropriate place. I'm glad to see Al Baradei involved.

Here's some background: Alleged police beating death sparks nationwide fury
June 14, 2010

Anger over the death of a man allegedly at the hands of two undercover police officers in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria has sparked anger across the nation and condemnation by human-rights organizations and a Facebook group dedicated to finding out what happened to Khaled Mohamed Saied.

Following his death on June 6, human-rights groups, including Amnesty International, said that Saied was arrested in an Internet cafe by two undercover policemen, who tortured and beat him to death at the entrance of a nearby building. Photos of Saied's beaten face and body spread across social-networking websites.
More: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/06/egypt-alleged-torture-death-scatters-nationwide-fury.html" rel="nofollow">http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2...