Prosecution orders detention of policeman accused of killing tea vendor for 4 days

Wednesday 20-04-2016 01:17 PM

The funeral of a young Egyptian man killed in Cairo's al-Darb al-Ahmar district, on Feb. 19, 2016. The suspect, a policeman has confessed to the killing but the high profile case has sparked public outrage at the police. ASWAT MASRIYA/Mousa al-Zarif

CAIRO, Apr 20 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt's prosecution ordered on Wednesday the detention of a low-ranking policeman for four days pending investigation over accusations of killing a tea vendor and injuring two persons yesterday.

The incident took place in Rehab, a neighbourhood in the outskirts of Cairo, and it is the most recent in a series of incidents that stirred up public anger over purported police violence in Egypt.

The interior ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that the low-ranking policeman, Zeinhum Abdel Razek, shot and killed a tea vendor, and injured two more people, early Tuesday morning after a quarrel over the price of tea.

In response to the killing of the vendor, onlookers gathered and overturned a police vehicle and beat up another policeman at the scene of the incident, Reuters reported citing a witness.

Similar incidents of police violence have taken place over the past months sparking public outrage on the streets.

Most recently on Feb. 18, a low-ranking police officer shot dead a driver after a dispute over the cost of loading goods, in the Cairo district of al-Darb al-Ahmar.

A criminal court sentenced the policeman accused in the case to 25 years in prison.

Police brutality was one of the triggers of the uprising of Jan. 25, 2011, which was sparked by protests on Police Day aimed to draw attention to the police's use of excessive, at times fatal, force.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi addressed the topic on different occasions. Following the Darb al-Ahmar incident, he ordered introducing legislation to control police performance on the street and to hold accountable anyone who violates citizens' rights.

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