Egyptian authorities are forbidding the news media from discussing the death of a prominent Left-wing activist who was killed by a shotgun blast fired by riot cops as she carried flowers to Tahrir Square to mark the fourth anniversary of the bygone “Arab Spring”.

The heartbreaking video of 31-year old Shaima al-Sabbagh’s death last month was seen all over the world.  A friend is seen struggling to keep her up after she was hit by birdshot fired by Cairo police intent on stopping a procession to Tahrir Square. 

Shaima was a mother and an activist with the Socialist Popular Alliance party.  At the time, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said that he saw Shaima as his own “daughter” and ordered police to identify a suspect. 

Three weeks later, prosecutors are trying to erase her death from memory.  The media has been ordered to say no more about it, unless the information comes from the chief prosecutor’s office.

“They want the people to forget this case,” said media attorney Negad al-Borai.  He believes that most reporters and news organizations will comply, lest they end up like Peter Greste and his Al Jazeera colleagues – Peter's free, but the other two are not out of the woods yet. 

Around 20 people died in the protest along with Shaima, and its getting to be a common occurrence when cops come in contact with protesters in post-democratic Egypt.  Al-Borai believes that victims of government violence will be forgotten which each successive wave of clashes and deaths.

“Because of this, people will stop talking about Shaimaa el-Sabbagh,” al-Borai said.  “Step by step, we will forget it.”