Egyptian Man Badly Injured in Paris Attacks Was Mistaken for Terrorist
In the chaos after bombs exploded outside the Stade de France in Paris, investigators collected some evidence from the scene, including two passports: one Syrian, one Egyptian.
The Egyptian document belonged to Waleed Abdel Razek, 27. Soon he was being identified in the French media as a possible terror suspect, though French authorities never made that claim, according to National Public Radio. His friends and family say that couldn’t be further from the truth.
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Like so many others near the stadium Friday night, where Germany was challenging the French national team in a friendly match, Razek was a soccer fan, a friend told NPR. He was carrying his passport as any tourist in Paris might—he was in the city to help his mom care for his cancer-stricken brother. Late to the game, he was caught up in the explosion—injured badly by shrapnel from a suicide bomb. His family had to identify him by his wristwatch, a friend told Mada Masr.
With nearly 11 million residents, Paris and its suburbs make up the most populated urban area in the European Union. Paris is, for lack of a better description, Paris—it attracts a diverse slate of visitors and new residents from all over the world. The terrorists focused their violence on the most densely populated part of the city, and the 129 people killed in the multiple attacks hailed from 19 countries.
When Razek’s friend Mohamed Gaber spoke to NPR Wednesday, the bombing victim was still in a medically induced coma and had undergone three surgeries. Too weak to undergo more at the moment, he will need considerable care going forward—if he survives.
“He’s an innocent guy going to watch a match, that’s the only fault he did,” Gaber told NPR. When asked why the media might jump to conclusions, Gaber answered, simply, “because he’s Egyptian or Muslim or Arab.”
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Original article from TakePart
