Court upholds manslaughter charges for 6 police officers over death of detainee

The Court of Cassation upheld prison sentences against six police personnel convicted of manslaughter over the death of a detainee on Wednesday, according to human rights lawyer Khaled Ali.

The court also obliged the Interior Ministry to pay LE1.5 million in compensation to the family of Talaat Shabeeb, who was killed while in custody at the Luxor Police Station in 2015.

Three appeals were filed against the prison sentence by the commissioned officer and the five enlisted officers, as well as the Interior Ministry, but the court chose to uphold all of the rulings. According to Ali, the ruling was final and cannot be appealed.

The Luxor Criminal Court sentenced First Lieutenant Hany Samir to seven years imprisonment, while the enlisted officers were given a sentence of three years in July 2016, all of which are to be served in a maximum security prison. Three other commissioned officers and four enlisted officers who also stood trial were acquitted.

Shabeeb was arrested from a coffee shop in November 2015 on drug charges and was taken to Luxor Police Station, where he was assaulted by police officers, resulting in his death on November 24.

A December autopsy report determined the cause of death to be severe trauma to the neck and back that resulted in broken vertebrae and ultimately severed his spinal cord.

Shabeeb’s death sparked the anger of residents of the south Luxor district of Awameya, causing hundreds of people to march in protest, demanding retribution and condemning police brutality.

Ali had previously told Mada Masr that the issue sentence was the maximum penalty possible given the prosecutor’s decision to charge the men with manslaughter. However, Ali and other lawyers had requested that the court consider additional charges of excessive force and torture, which would have carried a maximum sentence of death.