By Sarah Carr
ALEXANDRIA: The trial of two policemen implicated in the death of Khaled Saeid began Tuesday, amid heavy security presence. The case was adjourned to Sept. 25.
Some 200 demonstrators gathered outside the Alexandria criminal court while inside access to the courtroom was limited to accredited members of the press, lawyers and relatives of Saeid and the two defendants.
The session began with lawyers presenting the court with a number of demands, the most significant of which was to alter the charges against defendants policemen Awad Suleiman and Mahmoud Salah Mahmoud.
In a memorandum presented to the court, Hafez Abu Seada, chairman of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) and a member of the legal team representing the Saeid family, argues that the two men should be charged with murder under Article 126 of the Egyptian Penal Code.
The two defendants are currently facing charges of misuse of force, a crime with a maximum punishment of one year in prison.
However, Abu Seada argues in the memorandum that the men should be charged under Article 126 of the Penal Code, which lays down a three to 10-year prison sentence for public officials found guilty of torturing an individual in order to extract a confession.
Where the victim dies, the maximum punishment applicable is the death penalty if it is found that the murder is premeditated. Otherwise the penalty would be life imprisonment.
Eyewitnesses have testified to seeing Suleiman and Mahmoud viciously assaulting Saeid on the evening of June 6, 2010, after apprehending him in an internet café near his home. The eyewitnesses say that Saeid died at the scene, as a result of the assault.
Abu Seada says in his memorandum that while the circumstances of Saeid’s death do not necessarily fit the crime as it is currently defined in Article 126, Egypt ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture in 1988.
Under Article 151 of the Egyptian Constitution, international conventions ratified by Egypt are automatically incorporated into domestic law. This means that the much wider definition of torture as provided in the Convention Against Torture — which criminalizes torture inflicted for any reason, not merely in order to extract a confession — applies.
Saeid’s lawyers also demanded that 18 witnesses and experts be called to give evidence, including policemen from Sidi Gaber police station, officer Ahmed Othman, who eyewitnesses had placed at the scene of the crime, forensic experts and the ambulance men and morgue workers who handled Saeid’s body.
In addition, lawyers called for a copy of the criminal record of defense witness Alaa Eddin Ali Ahmed to be presented to the court.
The legal team also demanded an inquiry to be carried out by the public prosecution office into Saeid’s condition when he arrived at the hospital. Two widely differing accounts have been given surrounding the circumstances of Saeid’s death.
In addition to adding charges under Article 126 to the case against Suleiman and Mahmoud, lawyers are also calling on the court to exercise its right, under Article 11 of the Criminal Procedures Code, to bring charges against individuals other than the two low ranking policemen, where it has reason to believe that others are implicated in the crime.
This was a point addressed by Ali Qassem, Saeid’s uncle, who told reporters after the court session had ended, “I feel pity for the defendants, for these underdogs. They are mere scapegoats.”
Defense lawyers challenged the attempt to add new charges of murder to the list of offences against Suleiman and Mahmoud.
Abu Seada told Daily News Egypt that he predicts that the defense team’s arguments will most likely focus on Saeid’s character, his history of drug abuse and criminal activity imputed against him by the interior ministry, which alleges that Saeid died as a result of asphyxiating on a plastic wrap containing marijuana.
Defense lawyer general Refat Abdel-Hamid said after proceedings that “all the eyewitnesses have criminal records. I object to the court hearing the testimony of criminals.”
“You only have to look at the defendants’ records, which are outstanding. How could they have wanted to kill Saeid when they brought him cold water to revive him? How were the defendants able to assault him openly in the street? If all these people say that the saw it happen, why didn’t they do anything?” Abdel-Hamid said.
Saeid’s mother, sister Zahra and brother Ahmed were in court during the trial, as were Suleiman and Mahmoud, who looked on impassively from the dock during proceedings.
A small exchange occurred after the trial when relatives of the defendants accused one of the eyewitnesses of lying.
The eyewitness, Amal, wife of the doorman of the building where Saeid was allegedly assaulted, told reporters: “They roughed him up badly, and this is what I’m going to tell the court next time.”
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Egyptian policemen Awad Ismail Suleiman (R) and Mahmoud Salah Mahmoud (L), who are accused of using excessive force and killing 28-year-old Khaled Said, stand in the dock during their trial in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria on July 27, 2010. (AFP Photo/Khaled Desouki)
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