2 police charged in brutal killing of businessman despite official autopsies clearing them

2 police charged in brutal killing

CAIRO — Two plainclothes police officers were charged Wednesday with illegal arrest and brutality in the death of a businessman in Alexandria in a case that has drawn attention from governments and human rights activists.

Khaled Said, 28, died June 6. Witnesses said the two officers dragged Said out of a cafe and beat him to death. However, two state autopsies determined that he died of suffocation from swallowing a packet of drugs.

The autopsy results were met with derision after photos of Said’s body circulated, showing him covered with bruises, his teeth broken and jaw smashed.

The charges brought Wednesday against the two plainclothes agents marked the first government acknowledgment of possible wrongdoing on the part of its police in the case.

The killing became a rallying point for government critics who denounced it as an example of rampant police abuses under a three-decade-old emergency law during President Hosni Mubarak’s rule. The case led to street protests in Cairo and Alexandria. The U.S. State Department and rights groups including Amnesty International called for a transparent investigation.

Activists charged that the brutal killing was retaliation for Said’s embarrassing the police officers in an Internet posting.

The charge sheet filed by the Alexandria prosecutor accused the two officers, Warrant Officer Mahmoud Salah and Sgt. Awad Ismail Suleiman, of “illegal arrest, using physical torture and brutality.”

Even so, the government hotly rejected a statement Monday by the European Union ambassadors in Cairo that noted “discrepancies” between the autopsy reports and witness accounts, calling for an inquiry to be conducted “impartially, transparently and swiftly in a way that will credibly resolve the discrepancies.”

On Wednesday the Egyptian Foreign Ministry summoned EU envoys and informed them of Egypt’s response.

Hossam Zaki, the ministry’s spokesman, said the statement “constitutes a clear violation of the diplomatic norms and an unacceptable interference by foreign embassies in Egypt’s internal affairs.”

Zaki said the case was being investigated by the Egyptian judiciary, and “everyone should respect its procedures and verdicts.”

Lawyer Mohammed Abdel-Aziz of the Al-Nadim center for victims of torture said Wednesday that each charge carries a maximum prison sentence of one year or a 200 pound ($36) fine, but that was not enough. He said the killing was planned in advance, and the police officers should be charged with more serious crimes.

Said’s brother, Ahmad, agreed. “We insist that they (police) killed him, and we demand that the two policemen be charged with premeditated killing,” he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Alexandria.