Egypt jails two policemen for beating lawyer to death By AFP

PHOTO: feministing.com

An Egyptian court sentenced two officers with the
secret police to five years in prison on Saturday
for beating to death an imprisoned lawyer, the
second such verdict in a week.
The two officers, a lieutenant colonel and captain
with the national security force, had been accused
of torturing Karim Hamdi to death in a Cairo
police station in February.
He had been held on suspicion of belonging to
the Muslim Brotherhood movement, which the
military had ousted from power in 2013.
Both defendants had been released on bail during
the course of the trial and it was not clear when
they would be detained. They can appeal the
ruling.
The verdict came two days after another court
sentenced an officer to five years in prison for
beating a prisoner to death in a police station.
There has been an increase in reports of beatings
and deaths in detention in recent months,
prompting President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and the
interior ministry to pledge they would hold to
account those responsible.
The prosecution referred on Thursday nine
policemen to trial on charges of beating a
detainee to death in a police station in the
southern town of Luxor.
Long running police abuses, including the brutal
killing of a young man in 2010 at the hands of
two policemen, had fuelled an 18-day uprising
that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
Mubarak was succeeded in 2012 by the Muslim
Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi, who lasted a
year in power before his ouster by the military
following massive rallies demanding the
Islamist’s resignation.
Morsi’s overthrow unleashed a deadly crackdown
on his supporters and thousands have been
detained, and accusations of ill treatment in
prisons are common.
The interior ministry has said it does not condone
torture but says there have been “individual”
cases of abuses.