Court extends detention of 2 men arrested with cart driver who died in police custody

The North Cairo Criminal Court issued a 15-day detention renewal order for the two men who were arrested with Magdy Makeen, the cart driver who was tortured to death in police custody, after it accepted an appeal on Thursday that was filed by the prosecution contesting their release.

Hany Girguis, the nephew of the cart driver who died in Cairo’s Ameereya Police Station last month, previously told Mada Masr that his uncle was running a work errand with two other young men, Mohsen Zaky and Mahmoud al-Araby, when their cart hit a police truck full of security personnel from Ameereya Police Station. The truck chased the cart, overturned it, and 10 low-ranking police officers beat the three men and subsequently dragged them through the street.

The lawyer for Makeen’s family, Ali al-Halawani, has stated that the three men were then taken to the police station where Makeen was tortured to death and the other two men were severely beaten.

Halawani has said that the claims of torture are corroborated by the forensic report, while the prosecution has ascertained surveillance footage that shows policemen – officer Karim Magdy and lower ranking members of the police force – physically assaulting the three men inside the Ameereya Police Station.

According to Girguis, the two men were instructed to state that Makeen had fainted suddenly while being interrogated, and, if they refused to do so, they would be accused of dealing drugs.

“Both refused and insisted that my uncle was tortured to death, and they are still being held at the police station,” Girguis said.

The prosecution granted the lower-ranking policeman bail at LE1,000 on Sunday, deciding to formally charge him with assault and battery and announcing it had concluded its investigation into his involvement, according to the privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper. However, the investigation into Magdy remains open, pending receipt of the autopsy report on Makeen’s body.

Halawani stated that he has formally requested that the report be expedited, but he has yet to receive confirmation that his request will be granted.

When news of Makeen’s death first broke, Interior Ministry spokesperson Tarek Ateya denied that the cart driver had been tortured to death, asserting that Makeen had died as a result of extremely low blood pressure and was arrested with two others in possession of 2,000 Tramadol pills.

In a related incident, a minor died in custody at the Giza Governorate’s Bulaq al-Dakrur Police Station on Saturday.

The young man died several hours after he was detained by members of a juvenile police force, who had accused him of being involved in a human organ trafficking ring, reports the privately owned Al-Shorouk newspaper. The preliminary police investigation states that he suffered a heart attack and died before receiving medical attention.