CAIRO: A policeman who shot a man in Mohandiseen late last month has been charged by the South Giza Prosecutor with murder. His case was referred to court where he is due to stand trial.
Officer Adel Al-Shahed, 23, was charged with the murder of former handball player Tamer Mashour, 31, after a fight erupted between the victim and Al-Shahed’s brother near the Shooting Sporting Club in Mohandiseen.
Al-Shahed was referred to the Giza criminal court for the charge of murder with intent to kill as well as the injury of another, Bassem El Shewaify.
State-run Al-Ahram newspaper reported that the autopsy carried out on Mashour indicated that the body was tampered with to conceal evidence of the crime, adding to the controversy surrounding the case.
The newspaper did not, however, clarify how the body was tampered with exactly.
The incident which led to Mashour’s death began when Al-Shahed’s brother got into a street fight with Mashour’s brother.
At one point Al-Shahed took out his gun and fired shots in the air. A chase ensued and on Nargis Street, right off Thawra Street, he shot Mashour at the entrance to an underground parking lot.
Mustapha El Tayeb witnessed part of the events having been forced to a standstill while driving through Thawra Street where people had gotten out of their cars to see what the ruckus was all about.
“I heard the gunshots and saw a large group of people down that road [Nargis Street]. Bassem El Shewaify was shouting for people to get him an ambulance saying he had been shot in the leg. They were also holding the policeman in an empty building across the road, he previously told Daily News Egypt.
At the time, the Ministry of Interior issued a statement saying that the policeman was off-duty when he committed this crime, and therefore had no legal authority to use his gun.
The ministry added that when a policeman is off-duty, he is considered an ordinary citizen and should be treated as such and even if an off-duty officer witnesses an infraction of any kind, he cannot intercede but must call the police himself.
