Lawyer Karim Hamdy (Photo: Al-Ahram)
Cairo Criminal Court has sentenced two policemen to five years hard labour for torturing a lawyer to death while he was in custody.
The court found the two officers guilty of beating a civilian to death and of attempting to get a confession under duress.
The verdict can still be appealed.
The events of the incident date to February 2015, when the policemen were interrogating a lawyer, Karim Hamdy, in a police station in Cairo's Matariya district.
The officers had questioned Hamdy over accusations of illegal weapons possession, involvement in anti-government violence, and belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.
A forensic medicine report said Hamdy sustained fractures to his ribs and suffered a cerebral haemorrhage.
Matariya, a working-class district in northeast Cairo, had been a regular site for protests by supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi since July 2013.
In February, the general prosecution imposed a gag order on the case.
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