Police officers detained on accusations of beating Maadi worker to death

Helwan prosecution ordered the detention of three police officers for at least 15 days on Monday, on accusations of kidnapping and torturing a worker to death in Maadi, a security source told the privately owned Aswat Masriya newspaper.

The worker allegedly took Arab tourists on his boat and attempted to extort a Saudi Arabian client with footage of the tourist in a compromising position with his wife.

The Saudi tourist reportedly called the Darb al-Salam police station, which he had connections to, prompting the detention of the worker.

The officers deny any involvement in the worker’s death, blaming it on a sugar coma.

The incident follows a similar case in Daqahlia, in which a police officer was detained after the death of one citizen and the injury of two others. The son of the deceased told the privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper that the officers arrived in the village in civilian clothing, driving a private car, on their way to arrest a worker from a nearby factory.

Upon hearing people yelling, the villagers went into the street, where they reportedly witnessed police officers shooting live bullets into the crowd, when one man was fatally shot in the chest.

A security source told Al-Masry Al-Youm that three low-ranking police officers were attempting to raid a home in order to carry out an arrest, but met with resistance from civilians at the scene. The villagers reportedly asked to see an arrest warrant from the officers, and when they refused, the situation escalated. The source added that the police officer was attempting to disperse the crowd when he fired shots.

People at the scene performed a citizen’s arrest on one officer, who was later handed over to security forces, Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar stated. The officer has been remanded until an inquiry is completed, Abdel Ghaffar added.

In a similar incident, eight residents were recently arrested in Imbaba for protesting in front of a police station, accusing Imbaba police of torturing and killing a local man. They are being held on charges of breaking into a police facility.

The victim was reportedly pursued by three police officers and his body was later found in the Nile. Al-Masry Al-Youm reported that around 300 locals gathered outside the police station to protest the victim’s death.

This is not the first time civilian protests over police violence have resulted in the detention of police officers. A low-ranking police officer was sentenced to life in prison in April for killing a resident of the Darb al-Ahmar district in Cairo in February. The incident led to mass protests over ongoing police violence.