Thursday 18 November 2010

Egypt: Police brutality ends in another death


Alexandria is under scrutiny as the site of another report of police brutality. According to Amnesty International, the family of 19 year-old Ahmed Shaaban allege that he died after being tortured and physically abused by police officers at Sidi Gabr police station on 7th November, and that his body was then dumped into a canal near his neighbourhood to give the impression that he committed suicide.

The organisation has called on the Egyptian authorities for an independent investigation of the allegations without delay.

According to Amnesty International, Shaaban's corpse was returned to his family on 11th November, covered in bruises to the head and body.

Police reportedly told the family not to hold a funeral but to bury the body immediately. Members of the security forces are said to have accompanied the family at the burial and afterwards to have been stationed near the family's home.

Sidi Gabr police station was the place of work of two police officers currently on trial over the death of Khaled Said, who was dragged out of an internet café by plainclothes police and beaten to death in public on the sidewalk. His death led to mass protests in Alexandria and elsewhere against police brutality.

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

© 2010 Menas Associates

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