CAIRO — Abdel-Rahman Ahmed was shot dead on Oct. 6, 2013, during a Muslim Brotherhood protest. He marched against deposed President Hosni Mubarak's regime in 2011 and then joined the Brotherhood after the military takeover six months ago.

Ahmed was a third-year engineering student at Cairo University. "Abdel-Rahman always wanted to be an engineer," his veiled mother weeps, telling of his plans to study in Germany, get a master's degree, then a doctorate. "But then the state came and took that dream away."

If this was 2011, the family might have been able to claim compensation. "If we got that money, we'd use it to pay for hospital beds at a children's hospital," Ahmed's uncle, Haitham, explains. "We want to invest in him for the afterlife."

In the past, professional engineers could claim 1,500 Egyptian pounds ($215) if arrested, while injured persons could get anything between 1,000 and 10,000 pounds ($144-$1,437). The families of people who died would also be liable to receive 25,000 pounds ($2,590). Under rules introduced by a Brotherhood-controlled state syndicate late last year, engineering students would also be reimbursed in the event of a death, injury or arrest.