About the murder of  Mustafa Ahmed Abu Deef, Supervisor of Giza Metro Station

As his habit every morning before he leaves home to go to his work, he went to her room. She was asleep. He looked at her pretty face. For him, she seemed taller and her hair has grown thicker than the day before. He noticed her quick glance as she opened her eyes slightly and closed them again. He was not sure whether she was asleep or pretending to be so. She used to observe him stealthily  while he looked at her face before kissing her good bye.

She was not deceitful that morning. When he knelt down to kiss her she put her little arms around his neck, embraced him and said, “I love you very much dad”. He shuddered and felt the chill in his body. He embraced her fondly saying that she was the sweetest thing in his life, “When I come back, we will go to the stationery to buy a drawing notebook and colored pencils. You will draw all what you like”, he said. He drew her hand from his neck and drew the other hand from her thick hair and went out. On his way, he was thinking about the coming days. Will the dreams for which he took part in the 35^th January revolution be realized? Would his daughter enjoy her life in a country that protects her humanity and does not exclude her because she is a woman? Could he, as a worker, get his daughter highly educated? He wants her to join the engineering school and become an engineer. He wants to see her in a high position similar to the engineers of the Metro Authority.

He noticed on his way that people were confused, scared and cautious. Some bus passengers had a worried look. Police forces started in the early morning to disburse the sit-ins of Rabaa and Nahda Squares. However these events did not prevent him from thinking in what happened one day earlier and the end of the negotiations between his union and the chairman of the Metro Authority. They agreed at last to increase the incentives. This increase would improve his income. Now he can take his daughter and go too Balteem to enjoy the summer holiday at the seaside within the program arranged by his union. He has to buy bathing costumes for his daughter among many other things. The old costumes will not fit her this summer. He will also buy a kite. She was very happy last year when she was flying her kite. The higher the kite rose the happier she was. People in the street seemed very nervous when he got off the bus. When he approached Giza Metro station where he works, there were violent demonstrations and the fierce sound of firearms went unceasingly.

As soon as he arrived in the station, he heard the instructions to evacuate the station. Together with his colleagues, he inspected the platforms to make sure there wee no passengers and affirmed that all the gates were locked.

While he was inspecting a platform to ensure that nobody is hurt by the gunshots, he felt severe pain and blood covered his clothes. He did not feel anything any more. He heard the shouts of his colleagues and their faces were moving quickly around him. Nothing was clear except his daughter’s face. Her eyes were full of fear. His colleagues could not help him. They dragged his body and were hiding behind the station walls seeking protection from the “peaceful” demonstrators’ guns!!  When they went to inform the family, they saw the little girl sitting on the ground. Papers were scattered around her. She was drawing with bright colors. She drew the sun and colored the kite but she did not know when she can fly it!!.

Kamal Abbas

General Coordinator of the Center for Trade Union and Workers’ Services