The Egypt Court of Cassation on Sunday rejected an appeal filed by Osama El-Keneisy, a police officer convicted of torturing detainee Sayed Belal to death three years ago.

El-Keneisy, a former officer in the investigations department of the now-disbanded State Security, was sentenced to 15 years in April 2013 at a retrial. On Sunday, the court upheld the verdict issued against him.

Sayed Belal, a young Salafist, was arrested by State Security, and questioned about his suspected involvement in the bomb attack on the Two Saints Church in Alexandria on 1 January 2011, which killed 23 people.

On 12 January 2011, Belal's family received a phone call from the medical centre to which he had been transferred, saying they should come and collect his body. Signs of torture were found on the victim's body, prompting his family to file a lawsuit against the State Security officers.

El-Keneisy was sentenced to life in prison in absentia in December 2012. The Alexandria Court of Cassation ordered a retrial to start on 17 March after he turned himself in.

Two other officers in the case were acquitted on appeal.