Cops accused of torturing man to death

Four police officers in Egypt were detained for four days pending an investigation into the torturing of a man to death.

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Luxor, Egypt - The chief prosecutor of Egypt’s southern Luxor city on Friday ordered the detention of four police officers for four days, pending an investigation into the torturing of a man to death, a judiciary source told dpa.

The officers have been accused of using violence resulting in the death of 45-year-old Talaab Shabeeb in the early hours of November 25 in al-Awameya district.

Shabeeb was seized on the same day of his death while sitting at a local coffee shop, allegedly over possessing narcotics, and led to a police station, media reports said.

Shortly afterwards, he was taken by ambulance to a Luxor hospital, but he was already dead before his arrival, his family told local media.

According to the forensics report, Shabeeb had signs of beating on his back in addition to a neck fracture that tore his spinal cord, leading to his death.

In a press statement released following his death, the prosecutor’s office had claimed Shabeeb was a drug dealer and had a criminal record.

Shabeeb’s family, however, denied these allegations, claiming he was arrested over a personal dispute with a policeman.

The family said that Shabeeb only worked as a papyrus vendor at Luxor’s ancient temples, releasing a copy of a hospital report that said he had been already dead upon arriving at the hospital about an hour after his arrest.

A video circulated on social media after his death shows family members examining the body and pointing at the signs of torture on it.

The footage could not be independently verified by dpa.

Meanwhile, mass demonstrations scheduled for Friday in Luxor to protest the death of Shabeeb were cancelled after the the officers were detained.

Even though torture is forbidden by the Egyptian constitution, several cases of alleged police brutality have been monitored by local and international rights groups over the past few weeks.

Police violations were among of the main triggers of the January 25 uprising in 2011 that led to the ouster of longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak.

DPA