Criminal Court convicts defendants in ‘Afroto Case’

CAIRO - 11 November 2018: Cairo Criminal Court sentenced a police officer and a policeman to three years, and six months in prison respectively for murder by mistake in the lawsuit publicly known as “Afroto Case.”

Last January, both convicts beat a detainee called Mohamed Abdel Hakim and nicknamed Afroto to death in the Mokatam Police Department.

The committee formed by the Forensic Medicine Department confirmed in July that Mohamed Abdel Hakim (aka Afroto) died after being beaten, refuting former claims of his death as a result of a drug overdose.

By measuring the concentration of drugs in Afroto’s body, the forensic report found that the victim did not abuse a deadly overdose of drugs. The report also found that the severe injuries caused by assaulting the victim were the certain cause of his death.

Two policemen including an officer have been charged with beating Afroto to death. Interrogations show that Afroto, accused by the police of abusing drugs, was illegally kept in custody.

According to the prosecution’s decision, policeman, Mohamed A., is accused of pushing down Afroto, while the other defendant, police officer, Mohamed S., is accused of kicking him in the chest causing him the injuries cited in a former forensic report. In its statement, the prosecution accused both policemen of beating the victim to death without the intention to kill him.

A former forensic report revealed that the cause of Afroto’s death was an internal bleeding caused by a broken rib, and a laceration in the left lung due to a severe hit on a solid object. The report, thus, contradicts with some police allegations that Afroto died due to drugs over dose.

Moreover, the forensic report said that the rolls possessed by Afroto were filled with about 10 grams of a green plant which is not on the Egyptian prohibited list of drugs.

Dozens of people demonstrated in January 2017 in front of Al-Mokattam police station after the death of Afroto. A total of 102 demonstrators were subsequently arrested and accused by court of damaging public and private property in violent demonstrations against the police.

The defendants face charges of attacking the Mokattam police station and the Mokattam Specialized Hospital. They are also accused of damaging public and private property, and taking part in illegal demonstrations. Nine policemen were reportedly injured during the attacks.