7/27/2019 Whatsupic.com - Whatsupic - Ahmed Assem ...

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/whatsupiccom-whatsupic-ahmed-assem- 1/3

Like 0 Tweet 0 0

Category: News & Politics

Published on Wednesday, 10 July 2013 01:56

 Ahmed Assem: the Egyptian

Photographer Who Chronicled His Own

Death [Video]

(the Telegraph By Robert Tait and

Magdy Samaan) --

He fires more than

once and then,

suddenly, turns the

rifle and points

toward the camera

lens.The film ends –

and so too ended

the life of AhmedSamir Assem.The

26-year-old photographer for Egypt’s Al-Horia Wa Al-Adala

newspaper was among a least 51 people killed after 

security forces opened fire on a large crowd that had

camped outside the Egyptian army’s Republican Guard

officers’ club in Cairo, where Mohammed Morsi, the

deposed president, was believed to be in detention.Mr 

 Assem had been on the scene as the pro-Muslim

Brotherhood protesters knelt for prayer shortly before dawn

on Monday morning.According to friends and relatives, the

moment of his own death was captured as the grainy film

culminates.

News of Mr Assem’s death filtered through after his

bloodied camera and mobile phone were found at the site

of the makeshift camp.

“At around 6am, a man came into the media centre with a

camera covered in blood and told us that one of our 

colleagues had been injured,” said Ahmed Abu Zeid, the

culture edi tor of Mr Assem’s newspaper, who was working

from a facility set up next to the Rabaa al-Adawiya

mosque, about a mile away.

“Around an hour later, I received news that Ahmed had

been shot by a sniper in the forehead while filming or 

taking pictures on top of the buildings around the incident.

“Ahmed’s camera was the only one which filmed the entire

incident from the first moment.

“He had started fi lming from the beginning of the prayers

so he captured the very beginnings and in the video, you

can see tens of victims. Ahmed’s camera will remain a

piece of evidence in the violations that have been

committed.”

Like much else about Monday’s incident, the exact

circumstances of the shooting are hard to prove. However,

other witnesses to whom The Daily Telegraph spoke have

described snipers being stationed on buildingsoverlooking the site, which is in an area dominated by

military installations.

Excerpts of a 20-minute video said to have been recorded

by Mr Assem as the horror unfolded in front of him were

shown at a Muslim Brotherhood press conference and are

 

Subscribe

Search...

Hits: 242 0

ShareShare

Related Items

Tax Avasion Advice Being

Offered by Lawyers, Bankers:

CBC News

NSA Stores Everyone’s

Metadata for at le ast a Year 

Obama on Government

Shutdown: Congress has Not

Fulfilled its Responsibility

Iranian FM Denounces Israeli

,Lies

Bettman Describes His Love

for Hockey

Shutdown: Hundreds of 

Thousands will Go without

Pay

Canada ’s Access to

Information Legislation

among the Worst in the World

Toronto Second-Hand Smoke

Exposure one of Canada’s

Worst

VA will Cut off Disability

Payments if Shutdown Lasts a

Month

Potential Shutdown in

Washington Sends Shiversthrough Canada

Popular 

Special

Endorsed

U Report

Contact Us

 WORLDNEWS & POLITICS ECONOMY SCIENCE & TECH LIFE & CULTURE ENTERTAINMENT SPORTS

http://whatsupic.com/news-politics-world/879-ahmed-assem-the-egyptian-photographer-who-chronicled-his-ow1/3

7/27/2019 Whatsupic.com - Whatsupic - Ahmed Assem ...

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/whatsupiccom-whatsupic-ahmed-assem- 2/3

now being touted as evidence of a massacre on the

streets of Egypt’s capital.

The other video, which purports to show the final seconds

before Mr Assem was shot, have now been put on to his

Facebook page, although the provenance of it could not be

independently verified by The Daily Telegraph.

What is certain, friends say, is that Mr Assem has left a

vivid testimony of events whose origins have been hotly

disputed. Mr Morsi’s supporters say they were fired on

from behind without provocation while they were praying.

The army insists that security forces only fired after 

protesters attempted to storm the Republican Guard

facility.

There have also been suggestions that the original firing

may have come from agents provocateurs, triggering a

wave of violence.

Whatever the truth, the Muslim Brotherhood says Mr 

 Assem’s last film bears out its version of events and says it

plans to use it as evidence — though it had not responded

to requests for a physical copy by the time of publication.

However, Mr Assem’s brother, Eslam, 29, said the

footage’s last seconds showed a soldier shooting

demonstrators from a roof. The soldier then turned his gun

towards Mr Assem and the film suddenly went dead, he

added.

Colleagues described Mr Assem, a graduate of Cairo

University’s communications department, as a dedicated

professional who had amassed an archive of 10,000

photographs since starting his career as a photographer 

three years ago.

His work for Al-Horia Wa Al-Adala — the official

newspaper of the Freedom and Justice Party, the Muslim

Brotherhood’s political wing — put him in the front line of 

Egypt’s political turmoil. It had also put him at odds with his

family, who were supporters of the late Egyptian nationalist

leader, Gamal Abdal Nasser.

 As Mr Assem’s friends and family mourned, Adly Mansour,

Egypt’s new interim president, unveiled a draft constitution

to replace the one drafted by Islamists and suspended last

week. A committee will be set up to make final

improvements to the document before it is put to a

referendum. Parliamentary elections will then follow within

three months and a date for a presidential election will beset once the parliament has convened.

Mr Mansour also named Mohammed ElBaradei, the former 

head of the UN atomic energy watchdog, as vice-president

in charge of foreign affairs and Hazem al-Beblawi, a

former finance minister, as prime minister.

http://whatsupic.com/news-politics-world/879-ahmed-assem-the-egyptian-photographer-who-chronicled-his-ow2/3

7/27/2019 Whatsupic.com - Whatsupic - Ahmed Assem ...

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/whatsupiccom-whatsupic-ahmed-assem- 3/3

Send

 

Add comment

 Name (required)

Refresh

http://whatsupic.com/news-politics-world/879-ahmed-assem-the-egyptian-photographer-who-chronicled-his-ow3/3