Egyptian Police Officer Gets 10 Years for Detainees’ Deaths
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Version 0 of 1. CAIRO — A criminal court in Cairo on Tuesday sentenced a police officer to 10 years in jail for manslaughter in the deaths of 37 detainees last August after their arrest for protesting against the military takeover. An official investigation concluded that the detainees had died of asphyxiation in a badly overcrowded police van after officers fired tear gas inside it. A total of 45 detainees had been packed into a van with a capacity for 24, Egyptian state news media reported Tuesday, and investigators discredited initial statements by the police that they were killed while trying to escape. In addition to the 10-year sentence for the officer in charge, Lt. Col. Amr Farouk, three lower-ranking officers received suspended sentences of one year, with no jail time. All of the verdicts are open to appeal. The deaths occurred during a bloody crackdown on Islamist supporters of Mohamed Morsi, the deposed president, who were protesting the military takeover. Security forces fatally shot more than 1,000 people in the first two months after the takeover, and thousands more have been imprisoned. |