Court Sentence Two Policemen To 25 Years In Prison For Torturing Suspect To Death.

Two Egyptian policemen have been sentenced to 25 years in

prison for torturing and beating a citizen to death at a police

station in the Tanta city of Gbarbiya province.

The Tanta Criminal Court held that it had on a previous

occasion sentenced the two policemen – a captain and a

non-commissioned officer – to one year in prison for

torturing and injuring another citizen at the same police

station.

The two policemen were sentenced in absentia.

Reports say the two victims of the policemen’s brutality

were in for theft. While one was tortured to death during

interrogation, the other sustained injuries that landed him

in hospital.

A source in the security sector however said the verdict

would be appealed. The North African nation of Egypt had

been hit with cases of police brutality which human rights

groups have condemned in recent times.

The Interior Ministry said it would punish any police

officer caught in acts that constitute brutality, while saying

that the torture cases were mere “individual cases” and

not a measure of general police behaviour.