TRIAL OF EGYPTIAN POLICEMAN CHARGED WITH KILLING ACTIVIST EL-SABAGH TO START ON MAY

Cairo, 17 Jumadil Akhir 1436/6 April 2015 (MINA) – The trail of a policeman charged with killing activist Shaimaa El-Sabagh will start on 10 May, a prosecution statement stated on Sunday.

El-Sabagh was shot on 24 January while heading, with around two dozen peaceful marchers mostly from the Socialist Popular Alliance Party, to Tahrir Square to lay flowers in the memory of those who died during the 25 January 2011 revolution, Ahram quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

According to reports, she suffered shotgun pellet injuries, apparently at close range, while standing outside the Air France-KLM office close to Tahrir Square. She was rushed to hospital but died en route.

The prosecution previously said investigations revealed El-Sabagh died from wounds sustained from light birdshot that a Central Security Forces officer fired at her and other protesters.

The policeman was charged with “beating that led to death.”

On Saturday, a court instead started the first session of the trial of 17 people, mostly from the Socialist Popular Alliance Party, accused with breaking the protest law during the demonstration in which El-Sabagh died.

The 17 defendants were originally witnesses in El-Sabagh’s killing case, but the prosecution charged them with breaking the protest law, which mandates permits from the interior ministry before protests can take place.

El-Sabagh, 33, was a mother of a five-year-old boy and was an advocate for workers’ rights and a leading member of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party in Alexandria, a group which supported both the January 25 revolution and the June 30 anti-Brotherhood protests.(T/R04/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)