Police officers sentenced to 10 years for Khaled Saeed murder

The Alexandria Criminal Court sentenced two policemen to 10 years in prison on Monday for the murder of Khaled Saeed, state media reported.

Mahmoud Salah Mahmoud and Awad Soliman were convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison in 2012 for Saeed’s murder in June 2010. After filing an appeal, the two men were facing a retrial.

State-owned daily Al-Ahram reported that verbal altercations took place between the defendants’ families and security, prompting the judge to evacuate the courtroom, only permitting lawyers and the media to remain.

The newspaper reported that the defendants were being tried on charges of torture, rather than murder or beating that led to death. The sentence handed down for such a charge ranges from three to 15 years in prison.

Saeed was killed at the hands of two police officers in Alexandria. His death became a symbol of police brutality after photographs of his disfigured face quickly went viral on social media. His death is widely believed to have been one of the sparks of the January 25, 2011 revolution.

The forensic doctor who testified in the case had said that Saeed was not beaten to death, but died of asphyxiation after swallowing a bag of hashish.