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9 Egyptian policemen sentenced to jail for assaulting doctors

Xinhua, September 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

A Cairo misdemeanour court on Tuesday sentenced nine policemen to three years in prison for assaulting two doctors in January, the state-run Ahram Online website reported on Wednesday.

The defendants were accused of verbally and physically assaulting the doctors at Cairo's Matariya Hospital.

Prosecutors said that one of the policemen came to the hospital with a wound on his face and requested one of the doctors to include fake injuries in the medical report. The doctor refused to do so and the nine defendants then assaulted the doctor and one of his colleagues.

The incident sparked anger, leading thousands of people to protest at the Doctors Syndicate in Cairo in February to demand that the policemen be tried and that the health minister sacked.

Recent incidences of police abuse of power have stirred up anger among some Egyptians.

In February, a non-commissioned policeman reportedly gunned down a driver over a fare dispute, prompting dozens of citizens to protest outside Cairo security headquarters. The policeman was later sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Another policeman shot a vendor dead in April on the outskirts of Cairo after a quarrel over the price of a cup of tea.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has recently vowed that policemen found guilty of committing wrongdoings would be punished, and Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar has maintained that such violations were isolated incidents rather than a systemic problem. Endit