Egypt jails 14 policemen, doctor for torture deaths

CAIRO — Egypt's top court on Sunday sentenced 14 policemen and a doctor to jail terms for torturing two prisoners to death in 2006, a judicial official said.

A colonel was jailed for three years, while 13 policemen were given one-year prison terms each in a case that also saw a doctor sentenced for a year.

They were jailed "for torturing to death two criminals who were in their custody in 2006", the official said.

It was unclear whether the jail terms had already been served since the incident occurred nearly a decade ago.

Sunday's verdict, which is final and cannot be appealed, comes after two policemen were referred to trial in February on charges of torturing and beating to death a lawyer jailed after a pro-Islamist protest.

Police abuses, which surged during the last five years of ex-president Hosni Mubarak's rule, were a key factor in the uprising that toppled him in early 2011.

However, the force has managed to rehabilitate itself in the eyes of many Egyptians amid a deadly crackdown on supporters of Mubarak's successor, Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

Morsi was ousted by the army in July 2013 after mass protests against his sole year of divisive rule.