Funeral of Egypt activist 'tortured to death'

The funeral of an activist allegedly “tortured to death” has given Egyptian protesters another reason to be angry at the president. Twenty-eight year old Mohammed el-Gindy died on Monday morning after being arrested on Friday and spending time in the intensive care unit of a Cairo hospital. An opposition party has claimed that el-Gindy had been electrocuted and had repeatedly had his head beaten by the police. In a statement, the Egyptian Popular Current party said el-Gindy had been “tortured to death”. Activist Salley Toma accused police of being heavy-handed and causing Mohammed’s death. ‘‘We have seen the signs of torture on his neck, tongue and other parts of his body. He was exposed to excessive torture,” she said. “We thought that we were done with torture and that it ended after the Mubarak era. The martyr Mohammed el-Gindy may have even voted for President Mohamed Mursi,” she added. El-Gindy’s funeral, attended by hundreds of people, coincided with another for an activist killed in the recent clashes. Fifty-nine lives have been lost in the past week, making it the bloodiest period of president Mohamed Mursi’s seven months in power.