Archive for police officers

Court accepts policemen’s appeal in Khaled Saeed murder case

by admin
December 20th, 2012

The Court of Cassation has accepted the appeal of two policemen who were sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment last year on charges of torturing Khaled Saeed to death.

Former Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid Mahmoud had referred the two policemen, Mahmoud Salah and Awad Suleiman, to criminal court in July 2010 after they were charged with the unjustified arrest and torture of a citizen. The Alexandria Criminal Court will hear their appeal trial.

Saeed was killed on 6 June 2010 after being beaten by the two policemen, who had arrested him at an Internet cafe in Sidi Gaber, Alexandria. He was reportedly detained after he uploaded videos on the Internet showing police officers torturing prisoners.

Saeed’s killing became a symbol of police brutality and is widely believed to have triggered the 25 January revolution. The medical examiner’s reports on his death also sparked widespread controversy after murder and torture were ruled out. Medical reports claimed Saeed died of asphyxiation after swallowing a bag of marijuana to hide it from police.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Interior Ministry says police capabilities, image restored

by admin
December 10th, 2012

The Interior Ministry said Monday that police have secured “targeted institutions,” such as police stations, and have restored their image with the help of “honorable citizens” who support them.

Some citizens call for the withdrawal of the police force so they can commit vandalism and other crimes with impunity, the ministry continued in its statement.

The police have regained the ability to deal with saboteurs during protests and strikes, the ministry added, in spite of recent political upheaval. The security apparatus has gained experience in dealing with the political instability and formulating plans that secure all citizens and property, the statement claimed.

“The police force is able to distinguish between peaceful protests and rioters, and deal with each according to the law,” the ministry assured.

“Despite remaining neutral during recent incidents, the police were criticized by all sides,” the statement added, arguing that this is an indication that the police are on the right path and act in accordance with the law, even under difficult circumstances.

The statement also noted that the security apparatus serves all Egyptians without discrimination.

The ministry called on all political forces to place the good of the nation over personal interests to avoid endangering the safety of citizens and the country.

Around 152 police officers have died and 1,100 have been injured since the beginning of the 25 January revolution, the ministry said.

Edited translation for Al-Masry Al-Youm

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55 November clashes defendants released

by admin
December 2nd, 2012

The Qasr al-Nil Misdemeanor Court released on Sunday 55 defendants accused of assaulting police forces at Simon Bolivar Square near the US Embassy and on Mohamed Mahmoud Street near the Interior Ministry, on bail of LE1,000 each.

The defense said the defendants were arrested randomly by police officers and were innocent of the charges.

Tight security was imposed in front of the court during the hearing.

Clashes erupted on 20 November at Mohamed Mahmoud Street during commemorations of the 2011 violence, which left over 40 protesters dead. The recent violence, which extended to Simon Bolivar Square near the US Embassy, has killed at least two people and injured 310. The Interior Ministry reported that 648 protesters were arrested and 292 officers wounded.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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329 have been arrested in downtown clashes, says security source

by admin
November 26th, 2012

As of Monday, 329 protesters have been detained on charges of rioting during clashes with security forces on Mohamed Mahmoud Street and Qasr al-Aini Street, said a security source.

Ninety of those detained have been formally arrested and are facing legal charges, the source told state-owned news source MENA. Another 74 protesters who were under the age of 18 were released to relatives, and another 165 detainees were released without charge.

The source also claimed that 199 police officers have been injured in the clashes.

Violent confrontations have been taking place between protesters and security forces on the streets around the Interior Ministry for the past 10 days. The two groups began hurling stones and Molotov cocktails at each other on the first day of the commemoration of the 2011 Mohamed Mahmoud clashes.

The violence escalated on Friday, the day after President Mohamed Morsy issued a new constitutional declaration that granted him unprecedented powers and made his rulings legally uncontestable.

Edited translation from MENA

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Police acquitted of killing revolution protesters

by admin
November 22nd, 2012

Cairo Criminal Court acquitted Thursday police officers Ahmed Mostafa al-Shazly and Khaled Abu Raid of killing five protesters and injuring seven others last year.

The officers were found not guilty of shooting revolution protesters outside the Darb al-Ahmar police station on 28 January 2011.

The defense lawyer argued the charges were false and based on malicious motives. Their attorney claimed criminals in the district made up the allegations out of hostility toward Shazly after his 11 years on the police force. He suggested that the protesters may have been killed by unknown gunmen who infiltrated the demonstrations.

The mother of Ahmed Khalifa, one of the protesters shot dead, burst in to tears when the verdict was announced.

"I was sure they would acquit the defendants. We will see what President [Mohamed] Morsy will do with them," she said.

According to the defense, Shazly was stationed at the Cairo Security Department on the day of the killings and Abu Raid was securing Al-Azhar Mosque during Friday prayers that day. Brigadier General Ahmed Helmy, Captain Mohamed Fawzy and Captain Ahmed Kilany all provided testimony corroborating Shazly’s alibi.

The lawyer also said the killed and injured protesters had been violent and tried to burn down the police station.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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Update: Crowd chanted anti-Al Jazeera slogans before setting office ablaze

by admin
November 21st, 2012

The Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr office fire in Tahrir Square was carried out by a mob that had been chanting slogans against the Qatari-owned station, according to a studio employee.

The first-floor office used by the station, set up after the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, was badly damaged by fire.

The studio's windows were smashed and two empty bottles, which had apparently been converted into Molotov cocktails, were found inside the office.

The Interior Ministry described the perpetrators as "trouble makers" who had attacked police officers when they had arrived to investigate, the state news agency reported. The public prosecutor has ordered an investigation.

"There were 200 to 250 people gathered outside the studio chanting against the channel," Ahmed Dessouki, a producer with the channel, told Reuters television.

Civil Protection Forces quickly controlled the fire, and no casualties have been reported.

Witnesses told the state-run news agency MENA that unidentified people were throwing stones at the studio’s office, located on the first floor of a building overlooking Tahrir. Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr itself said earlier that unidentified people threw Molotov cocktails at the building.

Civil Protection Forces are still conducting operations to ensure that fire does not flare up again.

Protesters threw stones and Molotov cocktails at Interior Ministry officials when they went to the square to follow up on the fire. Assistant Interior Minister for Cairo Security Osama al-Sagheer and head of Central Security Forces in Helwan Shoeib Abdu Ibrahim, as well as a number of officers, were among those pelted with the projectiles Wednesday afternoon in Tahrir Square.

Ibrahim was injured and taken to the police hospital in Nasr City.

A Cairo Security Directorate source said that the security manager rushed to the scene accompanied by a fire truck after receiving reports about the blaze.

According to the security source, nearly 500 demonstrators in the square and the surrounding streets tried to take control of the fire truck and prevent it from putting out the flames.

Clashes then started between firemen and demonstrators, the source said. Major General Shuaib Abdu Ibrahim reportedly tried to intervene but was pelted with stones and had to be taken to the hospital.

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Retrial begins for police officers accused of torture

by admin
November 20th, 2012

The Alexandria Criminal Court held the first session Tuesday in the retrial of five state security officers accused of torturing Sayed Bilal to death in January 2011.

The court postponed the case to 20 December after hearing the prosecutor’s argument.

West Alexandria Prosecutions head Mohamed Taha accused the defendants of premeditated murder. He said that they beat Bilal, a 31-year-old Salafi, to death on 5 January 2011 during interrogations over the New Year’s Eve Two Saint’s Church bombing, in which 23 Coptic Christians were killed.

The crime is especially serious, Taha argued, because security officers are sworn to protect the lives of citizens.

In June, the court convicted five policemen from the now-dissolved State Security Investigation Services of killing Bilal. The court sentenced four officers, who were tried in absentia, to 25 years in prison and a fifth who was present for the sentencing, Major General Abdel Rahman al-Shimy, to 15.

Police arrested Bilal at his home at dawn on 5 January 2011, allegedly subjected him to torture, and then brought his body home to his family a day later.

The forensic report said he died from his injuries, specifically a head injury that led to a brain bleed.

Edited translation from MENA

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Court to issue Mohamed Mahmoud clashes verdict on 15 December

by admin
November 17th, 2012

 

Cairo Criminal Court will issue a verdict in the Mohamed Mahmoud clashes case on 15 December, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported Saturday.

The decision on Saturday came two days ahead of the first anniversary of the clashes between protesters and security forces on Mohamed Mahmoud Street, which began on 19 November last year.

President Mohamed Morsy decided a few weeks ago to pardon all but one of the 379 defendants facing trial for violent incidents that took place during the 25 January revolution and the interim period under the rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. The pardon could force the judge to find almost all of the defendants not guilty of charges related to the clashes.

Prosecutors are accusing defendants of burning down real estate tax offices and setting fire to police cars, as well as injuring police officers and damaging the facade of the American University in Cairo’s downtown campus overlooking the street.

Activists say the clashes were the result of congestion among many demonstrators after Central Security Forces broke up a sit-in of the revolutionary martyrs’ families in adjoining Tahrir Square by force on 19 November 2011, leading to clashes with police that lasted for five days, killing over 40 people.

In a statement, prosecutors had said the amnesty decision covered all but one defendant, whom they alleged was in possession of narcotics.

The Constitutional Declaration, issued in March 2011, grants the president the right to issue a pardon for criminal defendants, which, according to legal experts, will give the court the right to acquit the defendants in that case.

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Despite official objections, Brotherhood cleric lectures police

by admin
November 8th, 2012

The Interior Ministry has allowed the Muslim Brotherhood's Guidance Bureau mufti to deliver religious lectures to police officers, despite objections from the National Security Authority, security sources told Al-Masry Al-Youm. 

The sources said that Mufti Abdel Rahman al-Barr began the twice-weekly lectures last month. The lectures to police officers reportedly stressed religious commitment, the good treatment of citizens, avoiding torture and the importance of a religious state.

The same sources said Barr told police officers that growing beards to copy the tradition of Prophet Mohamed was acceptable, an idea strongly opposed by the Ministry.

Some police officers objected to the lectures and boycotted them, sources added.

Samy al-Ruby, assistant interior minister for training, said the training department receives figures from all political affiliations to provide officers with training in all fields related to their jobs. Ruby said that the department had hosted other Islamic figures.

Concerns have surfaced that the rise of Islamists to power would lead to an attempt of groups like the Brotherhood to dominate key military and police training institutions.

In February, Al-Masry Al-Youm quoted security sources saying lawmakers from the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party had asked the Police Academy to provide six-month intensive courses for law school graduates affiliated with the Brotherhood, reportedly to help fill security gaps. The Brotherhood denied such claims and Police Academy officials said they don’t set quotas for any political or other groups.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

 

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Public prosecutor orders search for police officers kidnapped in Sinai

by admin
November 7th, 2012

Public prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud on Wednesday urged the Interior Ministry, the National Security Agency, the General Intelligence Services and the Armed Forces to search for the police officers who were kidnapped in Sinai in last February while guarding the Egyptian border in Rafah.

News reports have said that four policemen are missing. Families of the missing policemen have accused the administration of President Mohamed Morsy of neglecting their case, as it has been nearly two years since they were abducted.

A statement from Mahmoud’s office said Tuesday that the wives of the officers filed a complaint saying the Islamist kidnappers handed them over to the Palestinian Army of Islam in return for US$150,000 for each, in order to pressure the Egyptian government to release detained militants from the Palestinian Army of Islam.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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