Egypt court convicts 2 officers for torture and murder lawyer in police custody

Published December 12, 2015

A Cairo court has convicted two officers for the torture and murder of a detained lawyer in an eastern Cairo slum, the latest in a wave of detentions, trial referrals and verdicts for police officers accused of brutality.

Saturday's verdict comes after President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi vowed to punish abusive officers following the recent deaths of several detainees.

Judge Osama Shaheen said he sentenced national security officers Omar Mahmoud and Mohamed el-Anwar in absentia to five years in prison each for beating lawyer Karim Hamdi to death.

Hamdi was detained on charges of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which Islamist President Mohammed Morsi hailed before the military overthrew him in 2013.

Police abuse was one of the main grievances of protesters in the 2011 uprising.

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