Court orders retrial of policeman who killed Egyptian activist

Cairo, February 14

Egypt’s top court on Sunday overturned the conviction of a policeman jailed for 15 years for the killing of a female activist at a peaceful protest here last year and ordered a retrial for the slaying that shocked many Egyptians.

Yassin Hatem Salah Eddin, 24, was in June convicted and jailed by the Cairo Criminal Court on manslaughter charges over the death of 32-year-old activist Shaimaa el-Sabbagh.

The Court of Cassation today overturned the lower court’s order after accepting an appeal filed by Eddin and ordered a retrial in the case, a court official said.

The highest appeals court in Egypt did not immediately give its reason for annulling the previous judgment.

El-Sabbagh was killed after a masked policeman fired a birdshot in her direction during a peaceful demonstration in January 2015 to commemorate the protesters died during the 2011 revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak.

The policeman was charged with beating el-Sabbagh, a member of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party, until death and deliberately injuring other protesters.

The killing had stoked anger among many Egyptians over perceived police brutality, after a part of the incident was captured on film.

Authorities had initially denied that police had any involvement in her death.

Rights activists had said the police hampered efforts to save el-Sabbagh’s life by preventing an ambulance from passing through the cordon.

The outrage over El-Sabbagh’s death had forced Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to order an investigation.

Hundreds of activists were put in jail and are tried for protesting without permit. — PTI