An Egyptian police officer, Muhammad Ibrahim Abdul Monem, was sentenced to death in absentia today by an Egyptian court. Abdul Monem, who worked at the Zawiya Hamra police station in Cairo, had been found guilty in the shooting deaths of 23 protesters on January 28 outside the police station. In a recent TV interview, Abdul Monem refuted the charges against him, claiming not to have killed anyone while protecting the station. He stated that he fired his weapon into the ground, thereby following orders given to police officers to “fire their weapons to protect the building.”
The sentencing of Abdul Monem came as the trial of former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly was delayed for the second time, prompting demonstrations by relatives of protestors killed during the 18-day revolutionary period earlier this year.