An Egyptian court has sentenced two policemen convicted of beating a young man to death to seven years in prison, The Associated Press reported on Wednesday.
The case in question is believed to have inspired the uprising in Egypt which led to the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak.
28-year-old Khaled Said died on June 6, 2010 after two plainclothes policemen dragged him out of an Internet café in the city of Alexandria and beat him to death, witnesses said.
The police tried to portray Said as a drug dealer and claimed he had choked on a packet of drugs he swallowed as they approached. Forensic reports later found that the packet was forced into his mouth.
Said’s death became an immediate rallying point for activists campaigning against widespread police brutality and other human rights abuses under Mubarak, AP noted. A Facebook page created in Said’s memory months later was used to put out a call for the January 25 protests that grew into an 18-day uprising that would topple Mubarak.
AP reported that Said is seen as Egypt’s version of Mohammed Bouazizi, the Tunisian fruit seller whose self-immolation sparked the revolution in the country that toppled former President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.
Prosecutors initially charged the two officers, Mahmoud Salah and Awad Ismail Suleiman, with illegal arrest and harsh treatment, but not with murder. Said’s family had hoped that the charges would be upped to murder and torture, particularly with the evidence that the packet of drugs was forced into Said’s mouth, but ultimately the two were convicted of manslaughter.
Wednesday’s verdict enraged families of the police officers, who smashed wooden benches in the courtroom and tried to attack the dead man’s lawyers and relatives, according to AP.
Said’s family members also said they were “shocked” by the verdict, adding it shows that the revolution is being “aborted.” Egyptian activists immediately took to Twitter to condemn the light sentence.
Egypt’s temporary military leaders have been criticized for their failure to improve the situation following the revolution. Treatment of religious minorities has worsened in Egypt since Mubarak’s ouster. At the same time, Salafi Islam is on the rise, and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood party may win as many as 50% of the seats in parliament.
Earlier this month, demonstrators called for a second revolution after at least 24 people were killed in a clash between protesters and the military in Cairo.
The clash began with an attempt by Coptic Christian protesters to hold a peaceful sit-in at a television station but quickly descended into violence.