oluwatosin oyeniyi CAIRO, Egypt — Egypt has paid compensation to the family of poet and activist Shaimaa Al-Sabbagh, who was shot dead by police in Cairo in 2015 while taking part in a march to commemorate protesters killed during the January 25 uprising.
The family received about 300,000 Egyptian pounds, or less than $6,000, last week, according to their lawyer, more than 11 years after Al-Sabbagh was killed and three years after a court ordered the compensation.
The payment brings a long-running legal battle over compensation closer to an end, although it comes years after the court ruling.
Al-Sabbagh’s death
Al-Sabbagh, then 34, was killed on January 24, 2015, on the eve of the fourth anniversary of Egypt’s 2011 uprising.
She was part of a small group of members of the Popular Alliance Socialist Party heading towards Cairo’s Tahrir Square to lay flowers in memory of protesters killed during the uprising.
Security forces moved to disperse the gathering. According to investigations, Al-Sabbagh was struck in the back and neck by shotgun pellets fired by a police officer during the dispersal. Photographs and video of her final moments circulated widely, turning her death into a prominent case in discussions over police accountability and the right to protest. She later became known by supporters as the “martyr of the roses.”
Officer convicted over her death
The case also went through a lengthy criminal process.
The police officer found responsible for Al-Sabbagh’s death was eventually sentenced to seven years in prison in 2020 for causing death through assault, following earlier sentences that were overturned on appeal.
Her family subsequently pursued a separate civil case seeking compensation.
A court awarded the family approximately 300,000 Egyptian pounds in 2023. However, according to their lawyer, the payment was not made until September 2026.
A decade-long wait for compensation
The delay has become an important part of the family’s account of the case.
The family’s lawyer, Ali Suleiman, said the compensation claim was not primarily about receiving money but about establishing legal recognition that a wrongful act had occurred.
The eventual payment therefore represents the conclusion of a process that began with Al-Sabbagh’s death and continued through criminal proceedings, appeals and a separate compensation case.
For the family, the delay also illustrates the gap that can exist between a court decision and its implementation.
A lasting symbol of the 2011 uprising
Al-Sabbagh’s death has remained closely associated with the legacy of Egypt’s January 25 uprising.
The 2011 protests forced President Hosni Mubarak to step down after nearly three decades in power. Hundreds of people were killed during the uprising and the violence surrounding it, making commemorations of those deaths an important part of the political memory of the period.
Al-Sabbagh’s case became particularly prominent because her death was captured by photographers and video cameras as she took part in a peaceful memorial action.
More than a decade later, the compensation payment has brought the case back into public attention.
What the payment represents
The compensation does not undo the delay or the loss suffered by Al-Sabbagh’s family. But it provides a formal financial remedy following the court’s 2023 ruling.
The case also demonstrates the importance of judicial remedies in cases involving deaths during public demonstrations. Criminal accountability and compensation serve different purposes: the former establishes individual responsibility where the evidence supports it, while the latter provides a legal remedy to victims or their families.
For Al-Sabbagh’s family, both processes have taken years.
The payment ultimately closes another chapter in a case that has remained a reference point in Egypt’s post-2011 history, showing how questions of accountability can continue long after the events themselves have faded from the headlines.
