The AP has reported two police officers went on trial Saturday in the death of Egyptian blogger Khaled Said on 6 June [was it 7 June?] in Alexandria. The one-day session will resume on 23 October.
Said was accosted, apparently by plainclothes policemen, while in an internet cafe. His battered body was found hours later in a nearby doorway. Police claim he died from a drug overdose, after swallowing a packet of drugs [or, a “joint”].
AP said that “After the public outcry, prosecutors charged the officers, Mahmoud Salah and Awad Ismail Suleiman, with illegal arrest and harsh treatment, although not with murder as the victim’s family had demanded”.
AP added that “At a trial session Saturday, the victim’s uncle, Ali Guindi, said hundreds of police supporters packed the courtroom, shoving and blocking witnesses for the prosecution and Said supporters from entering … Also, a television crew for the Al-Arabiya network said police confiscated their equipment and assaulted them while covering Saturday’s session”.
Continue reading Egyptian trial of policemen charged in blogger Khaled Said's death