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
officers 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.
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.

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