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| Africa North | |
| Egypt court acquits police officers | |
| 2014-02-24 | |
| An Egyptian court acquitted six policemen on Saturday of killing protesters during the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak, as his now deposed successor Mohammed Mursi went back on trial. The acquittal of the six officers on charges of killing 83 protesters outside police stations in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, came as a Cairo court resumed the trial of Mursi on charges of plotting violence during the revolt. Nearly 850 people died during the 18-day uprising that toppled Mubarak, most of them on January 28, 2011, when protesters battled the then-despised police. Many of those who died were killed outside police stations when protesters attacked what they saw as symbols of Mubarak’s autocratic rule. More than a dozen policemen were put on trial, including top commanders. Mubarak himself was sentenced to life in prison for his involvement in the killings, but won a retrial on appeal. Most have been acquitted. Earlier this month, another court overturned the conviction of a policeman sentenced to five years on charges of killing 18 protesters. The six policemen acquitted on Saturday included the former chief of police in Alexandria. The defendants shouted “long live justice” on hearing the verdict. In the three years since Mubarak’s overthrow, blame for the killings during the uprising has shifted to Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood as the police force has rehabilitated itself in public opinion. Prosecutors allege the attacks on police stations and the jailbreaks, in which Mursi and other political prisoners escaped, were a conspiracy to sow chaos in Egypt. That narrative of events has gained wider public acceptance amid a backlash against Mursi’s Brotherhood following his single, turbulent year in power.
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| Posted by:Steve White |