20 February 2016•Update: 20 February 2016
By Hussein Mahmoud
CAIRO
Prosecutors late Friday arrested a policeman accused of killing a citizen one day earlier near Cairo’s Security Directorate in an incident that has drawn widespread criticism of the Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi regime and led to limited demonstrations in Egypt’s capital.
Thursday evening, Mohammed Adel Ismail, a driver, was shot dead by a policeman near Cairo’s main police headquarters following a dispute.
The following day, Egypt’s Interior Ministry -- which runs Egypt’s sprawling police apparatus -- announced the arrest of the policeman, who stands accused of "accidentally" killing Ismail.
The policeman is currently being held at a government hospital in Cairo where he reportedly remains in critical condition after having been attacked by a group of the victim’s neighbors following the shooting.
A local legal source, who spoke to Anadolu Agency on Friday on condition of anonymity, said that state prosecutors in southern Cairo had ordered the policeman detained for four days pending further investigation.
According to the source, the policeman has been accused of committing murder "with the use of his government-issued firearm".
The accused, the source added, "was questioned in a Cairo hospital, which he entered on Friday in critical condition after having been attacked by the victim’s neighbors in the immediate wake of the [shooting] incident".
The incident, meanwhile, has been condemned by several Egyptian political groups, including the Freedom and Justice Party (the political arm of Egypt’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group), the opposition Strong Egypt party, and the April 6 youth movement.
Abdul al-Mawjood al-Dirdiri, chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party’s foreign relations committee, told Anadolu Agency on Friday that such incidents "are the inevitable result of a rapidly expanding police state that is able to commit such repressive acts in the absence of any oversight".
"The crime of murder is now being carried out not only against opponents of the regime, but also against everyday citizens," al-Dirdiri said.
The Strong Egypt party, for its part, said in a statement that "police violations against the citizenry, which have become commonplace, are the inevitable byproduct of a regime that puts the police above the law and legal accountability".
"The situation, to which the regime has turned a blind eye, has become critical and is likely to lead to serious consequences," the party added.
Egypt’s April 6 youth movement, which played a leading role in the 2011 popular uprising that led to the ouster of autocratic President Hosni Mubarak five years ago, likewise condemned the incident.
On its official Facebook page, the group asserted: "The Interior Ministry-run police are doing an excellent job [to encourage] the overthrow of this regime."
Widespread police brutality was seen as one of the main factors that led to the 2011 uprising, which forced Mubarak to step down after 30 years in power.
Demonstrations
Thursday’s killing prompted demonstrations the following evening near Cairo’s Security Directorate -- the main headquarters of the Egyptian police apparatus -- during which protesters shouted anti-police slogans.
On Saturday, the protests reportedly continued for the second consecutive day.
On Friday, President al-Sisi stressed the country’s "appreciation for the efforts of the police" while calling for "accountability in individual cases of [police] abuse".
According to a statement issued by the Egyptian presidency, draft legislation to this effect will be referred to Egypt’s parliament "within 15 days".
Egyptian police have recently faced mounting criticism from activists and human rights groups, especially after two doctors were assaulted last month by police after reportedly refusing to falsify medical reports.
That incident prompted hundreds of doctors to stage a protest in downtown Cairo in defiance of laws forbidding street demonstrations.
Egypt has been dogged by political turmoil since mid-2013, when the military staged a coup -- led by al-Sisi, who was army chief at the time -- that unseated Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first-ever freely-elected president and a Muslim Brotherhood leader.
