By Heba Fahmy
CAIRO: Prime Minister Essam Sharaf is scheduled to announce the establishment of the executive committee for the Association for the Care of the Revolution’s Injured and Martyrs’ Families, and its board of trustees on Wednesday, the Cabinet said.
Some activists and families expressed concern over the efficiency of the Association, questioning its slow pace and its definition of a martyr.
Clashes between protesters and police forces during the uprising that ousted president Hosni Mubarak left at least 846 dead and 6,467 injured, according to a report issued by an official fact-finding mission.
The committee’s duties include compiling a comprehensive list of the names of the martyrs and those injured during the January 25 Revolution, treating the severe cases that need surgery, providing for special care or traveling needed for treatment, and providing for their families.
Cabinet said in a statement that LE 50 million were raised as initial funding for the injured and martyrs’ families.
The committee will also assist families in providing evidence proving their right to receive compensation. It is also responsible for rehabilitating the injured and providing them and their families with appropriate job opportunities and pensions, according to a Cabinet statement issued on June 1.
Some European countries, including Italy, have offered to treat those injured during the January 25 Revolution, Sharaf said during a meeting on June 1.
Lawyer Haitham Mohamadein from El-Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence said that Cabinet should coordinate with the Ministry of Justice to receive the names of those injured and the martyrs’ families, as most of them have court cases pending a verdict.
“However, the Cabinet is stalling in a bid to calm the people down, without taking any real action on the ground,” Mohamadein told Daily News Egypt.
“They’re still in the process of establishing a committee that will gather the names of the martyrs and their families which will take a very long time,” he added.
“Some of the martyrs were their families’ sole providers,” he said, “It’s been four months since they died and their families have no source of income.”
Mohamadein said that the government only considers those who died in Tahrir Square during the uprising as martyrs, while those who were shot dead at police stations are considered thugs.
Hend Nasr, the sister of martyr Mohamed Nasr, 30, agreed, saying, “We’ll have to wait and see whether this committee is serious or not.”
Another committee is to be established within the same association to raise more funds for the martyrs’ and the injured families through coordinating with charity groups and organizing public charity events.
The committee will also organize a worldwide exhibition showcasing the symbolic belongings of the martyrs and pictures from the revolution; proceeds will go to the injured and the martyrs’ families.
The committee includes prominent figures such as telecom tycoon Naguib Sawiris, the General Coordinator of the National Association for Change Abdel Gelil Mostafa and Member of the Kefaya Movement for Change George Ishaq, according to the statement.
It also includes representatives of those injured in the January 25 Revolution as well as the Egypt for Good Foundation, according to media reports.
Mo’aweya Abdel Kerim, head of the social services committee in a similar association in Beni Suef called Our Country, said that no government official had approached them regarding the committee or assisted them in any way.
“This is just media talk; they’ll never pay for our treatment or our travel expenses,” he said.
Our Country aims to assist the injured and martyrs’ families in receiving compensations from the government. Abdel Kerim was shot in his left shoulder and hit with a tear gas bomb in his right one during the protests.
