Egypt policeman given 15 years for torture

Cairo: An Egyptian court has sentenced a policeman to 15 years imprisonment for manslaughter for torturing an ultraconservative Salafist to death.

The Alexandria Criminal Court found Osama Al Kounayassi guilty of using torture to extract confessions from the man, suspected of involvement in a suicide bombing at a Coptic Christian church over two years ago. El-Kounayassi had earlier won a retrial after another court found him guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment in absentia.

The Salafist was arrested along with other suspects in the aftermath of the bombing on January 1, 2011, when at least 21 worshippers were killed while leaving a New Year’s Eve mass in the port city of Alexandria.

Anger over police use of torture was a key grievance behind Egypt’s 2011 popular revolt.