We were just evaluating two reports: the first autopsy report and the second one. The quality was really very bad. The conclusions were not founded at all. So we tried to do our best, and especially we tried to underline these deficiencies, the discrepancies and the errors from these two reports. That was our main job because we were only working with papers, with documents, with photos. That was all we could do — just make a statement about the quality of those reports, about the nullity of the conclusions of those reports, and about the fact that they were not in accordance with minimum international standards from the reports themselves and to the documentation, the photograph documentation of the autopsies. It was totally unacceptable. And of course the conclusions that were produced were not scientifically sound. That was our main job - to point to that and to underline that. — Duarte Nuno Vieira on the Khaled Said case edly compelling diagnosis of death by asphyxia is not sufficiently supported by the data provided, and most of the aspects described, such as cyanosis or congestion, are non-specific and inconclusive on their own.” Regarding the second report, the experts found that: “it continues to have the same weaknesses and deficiencies as the first report, and is much beneath the minimum international standards acceptable for forensic autopsies...” The experts concluded that: “As described, the deficiencies, inadequacies and incongruences in the reports of the two autopsies performed on the cadaver of Khaled Mohammed Said Sobhi clearly make it impossible to reach any firm conclusions about the circumstances surrounding his death and the cause of it.” The two policemen charged were eventually convicted for their involvement in Said’s death. It contributed to raising awareness among citizens that any Egyptian was subject to being beaten and tortured. It is also one of the many contributing factors to demonstrations and the uprising that led to the ousting of Hosni Mubarak, which finally happened in February 2011. See a short film on the use of forensic documentation in the Khaled Said case at: http://www.irct.org/media-and-resources/multimedia/irctvideos/world-without-torture.aspx Getting the evidence: Countering torture through medico-legal documentation 11