Student’s death prompts riots at Ain Shams University, Cairo

Ain Shams University in Cairo has had to cancel exams after fears of protests by students following the controversial death of Engineering student Islam Salah Al-Din Atitu.

Atitu’s body was found on a desert road hours after he was called out of an exam by University staff at the request of an unidentified individual who is said to have escorted Atitu off-campus.

Egypt’s Interior Ministry has said that Atitu was killed during a chase with Security Forces and that he was involved in the murder of Egypt’s Homeland Security Colonel Wael Tahoon in April. Claims of his involvement in the killing have attracted criticism, with the Student’s Union calling them “a story falsely and deceitfully fabricated”.

The University has reportedly called in security forces to its campus to deal with student riots, whilst the Student’s Union denies any wrongdoing and has called on the University to release evidence surrounding Atitu’s death, with many students resigning from the Union in protest at the percived complicity of the University in the violent death of one of its students.

Reports indicate that the University has cancelled a number of exams for Engineering students to reduce the likelihood of protests, with students reporting that only those people with exams are being allowed on campus.

This is one of a number of incidents of violence on Egyptian university campuses since the controversial removal of President Morsi, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, by a military government in 2013. According to the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, an oppposition group, at least 22 students have been killed on-campus over the last two years.

Amnesty International report that the human rights situation in Egypt has deteriorated rapidly, and that freedoms of expression, association and assembly have been severely restricted.