Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Anger in Egypt as police who killed Khaled Said get seven years



Family and human rights campaigners condemn leniency of sentence in police brutality case that inspired uprising

Associated Press in Cairo
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 26 October 2011

"Democracy activists have condemned the seven year sentence given to two policemen convicted of beating a young man to death in a case that inspired Egypt's uprising.

The death of Khaled Said has been compared to that of Mohammed Bouazizi, the fruitseller whose self-immolation sparked the Tunisian revolution that began the chain of Arab Spring protests.

Said's death became a rallying point for activists campaigning against widespread police brutality and other human rights abuses under the regime of former president Hosni Mubarak.

Six months after Said's death in June 2010, a Facebook page created in his memory was used to call for the January protests that grew into the 18-day uprising that eventually toppled Mubarak.

Said's family said they were "shocked" by the sentence, adding that the revolution was being "aborted"....."

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