Khalid Saeed was beaten and tortured to death, by Egyptian police, last June. Police said that Saeed had died, not from torture, but from swallowing hashish.
A publicity campaign, a protest campaign, was launched, including on facebook: We are all Khalid Saeed.
We are all Khalid Saeed
As soon as the photos of Khaled Saeed’s deformed face and bashed head were circulated on the internet in early June, this young man, who had never before engaged in any political activity, launched his Facebook page. Within a few weeks, the page attracted nearly 222,000 members.
"People were horrified by Saeed’s picture. They used to log in to the page and swear at the perpetrators," he says.
Earlier this summer, the death of the 28-year-old Alexandrian made headlines and provoked several protests that called for his killers to be prosecuted and Egypt’s state of emergency to be lifted.
The case also stirred international criticism, which eventually forced the regime to refer for trial the two policemen who eyewitnesses allege beat Saeed to death.
We are all Khaled Saeed: Redefining political demonstration in Egypt (Al-Masry/Al-Youm)
We are all Khalid El-Masri
Khalid El-Masri, a German, was captured by the CIA in Macedonia. He was rendered to Afghanistan, and tortured there. He was beaten, sodomized, kept in squalid cell, starved, and given only putrid water to drink.
His capture and torture was a mistake about names. A mistake about passports.
After discovering the mistake, the CIA eventually freed El-Masri, by dumping him on a desolate roadside in Albania.
El-Masri tried to sue. The suit was tossed. State secrets.
Justice, about torture, is no more possible here than in Egypt. That justice is denied, in America, is quite literal and decided and admitted. The judges say so themselves:
Finally, it is worth noting that putting aside all the legal issues, if El-Masri’s allegations are true or essentially true, then all fair-minded people, including those who believe that state secrets must be protected, that this lawsuit cannot proceed, and that renditions are a necessary step to take in this war, must also agree that El-Masri has suffered injuries as a result of our country’s mistake and deserves a remedy.
yet
It is hereby ORDERED that the United States’ claim of the state secrets privilege is VALID.
It is further ORDERED that given the application of the privilege to this case, the United States’ motion to dismiss must be, and hereby is, GRANTED.
El-Masri v. Tenet, order
Being fair-minded is not possible here. It has been ruled out.
Justice has been denied. Injustice has been granted.
Justice in America has, in fact, been tortured, beaten, sodomized, starved, locked in a squalid cell, fed putrid water, and then dumped by the roadside in Albania. The mistake, of all this, is held to be unaddressable.
We are all Khalid El-Masri.
We are all Ahmed Agiza
Three months after 9/11, Ahmed Agiza was captured by the CIA on the street in Sweden.
Hooded men cut off his clothes with scissors. They put a suppository in his anus. They diapered him, shackled him, hooded him, and then trussed him inside a small jet. The jet took him to Egypt.
In Egypt, Agiza was severely beaten, and he was subjected to electric shocks through electrodes attached to his ear lobes, nipples and genitals.
Agiza tried to sue. The suit was tossed. State secrets.
Egypt has its emergency decree. We have our exceptional circumstances:
This case requires us to address the difficult balance the state secrets doctrine strikes between fundamental principles of our liberty, including justice, transparency, accountability and national security. Although as judges we strive to honor all of these principles, there are times when exceptional circumstances create an irreconcilable conflict between them.
Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan
Whichever you call it, emergency or exceptional, the result is the same.
Justice is denied us. Justice cannot prevail.
We are all Ahmed Agiza.
We are all Mamdouh Habib
One month after 9/11, Mamdouh Habib was captured in Pakistan.
Habib was suspended from the ceiling by his arms, standing atop a barrel drum. When he gave an answer interrogators didn't believe, he was jolted with electricity.
Habib was then rendered to Egypt. In Egypt, he was shocked with high-voltage wires, hung from metal hooks on the walls, and beaten.
Habib was then rendered to Guantanamo. At Guantanamo, he was sexually assaulted, and was smeared with supposedly menstrual blood. Guantanamo medical reports show the urine in his own blood, from the beatings.
Ludicrous claims were used to hold him. He had, supposedly, been involved in the transfer of the chemical weapons to Al-Qaeda. He had no ability to contest this. Justice is denied here.
We are all Mamdouh Habib.
We are all Hassan Nasr
Hassan Nasr, a cleric, in one of the better known cases, was abducted by the CIA in Milan. He was rendered to Egypt.
In Egypt, Nasr was tortured, let go to house arrest for lack of evidence, and then hauled back in prison.
In the second go round, Nasr was shocked to the genitals, and raped. From the beatings, he lost hearing in one ear.
Nasr cannot speak about his case. If he speaks, the Egyptian authorities will put him back in prison.
We cannot hear the full story of Hassan Nasr. We have lost hearing, in one ear, from all the many beatings. Justice will not be heard.
We are all Hassan Nasr.
We are all Yahya Wehelie
Yahya Wehelie, an American, was stopped after he left Yemen while changing planes in Egypt, on his way home to Virginia, last May. He was on the no fly list.
He was eventually released without charge. But he was stuck in Egypt, unable to return to his home. Our no fly list can strand any of us anywhere.
We are all Yahya Wehelie.
We are all Khalid Saeed
Here is the after photo.
Look at our ears, in the two photos. They are distinctive.
Look at the pattern of hair on our forehead. It is unique.
Compare our eyes. Think what they have seen.
In a country without justice, Egypt, the United States, or any other, this is what we are.
