A family member of a Canadian resident killed during a protest in Egypt is devastated by the loss, and says he鈥檚 concerned for the victim鈥檚 infant daughter who will now have to grow up never knowing her dad.
Ibraheem Hussein told 麻豆影视 Channel Saturday that his brother-in-law, Amr Kassem, leaves behind a nine-month-old daughter, who remains in Egypt with her mother. Kassem was buried Saturday.
"She's going to be brought up without that father figure," Hussein told 麻豆影视 Channel Saturday. "She won't know this great man, this great person."
Kassem, 24, was shot and killed Friday during a protest in Alexandria. According to his family, he was in the country with his wife and their daughter visiting relatives.
Hussein says Kassem died after joining a peaceful protest when he got hit by a bullet from a sniper. Kassem鈥檚 wife was notified of her husband's death after receiving a call from a stranger telling her to pick up his body.
Hussein said neither Kassem, nor his sister were ever involved in any of the ongoing violence that's gripped the region.
He described Kassem as a 鈥渒ind鈥� man who spent time volunteering in a lab at McMaster University. He was in the midst of completing his master鈥檚 degree and had dreams of eventually becoming a professor, Hussein said.
Asmaa Hussein, Kassem's widow, told 麻豆影视 in a phone interview that she is booked home on a flight Monday night, but it is leaving from Cairo, a three-hour drive from Alexandria where she is staying.
Foreigh Affairs officials in Ottawa told CTV's Omar Sachedina that they are exploring options to get her to the airport safely, but Hussein says they had earlier told her she's on her own.
On Saturday Egyptian Security forces stormed a mosque in Cairo where supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi were said to be hiding. Violent clashes have resulted in hundreds of deaths across Egypt as Muslim Brotherhood-led supporters demand that Morsi be reinstated.
