Egypt policeman given 5 years for protester deaths

CAIRO- Agence France-Presse

A woman holds a picture of her son who was killed during Egypt's revolution, during a protest against the results of the first round of presidential elections at Tahrir Square in Cairo May 29, 2012. REUTERS photo

An Egyptian court on Wednesday sentenced a policemen to five years in prison for killing protesters, in a retrial that overturned an initial death sentence in absentia, judicial sources said.

Mohammed Ibrahim was convicted of shooting at demonstrators and killing 18 of them outside a police station on January 28, 2011, when protesters torched police stations nationwide in a revolt that later forced president Hosni Mubarak from power.
 
The court is expected to explain later its decision to punish Ibrahim with a relatively short prison term.
 
He had earlier been sentenced to death in absentia, but was granted a retrial after handing himself in.
 
On May 22, a Cairo court sentenced five policemen to 10 years in jail in absentia for killing protesters during the 18-day uprising that ousted Mubarak on February 11.
 
Ten policemen were acquitted in the same case.
 
Mubarak, his interior minister Habib al-Adly and six security chiefs are on trial for their role in the hundreds of killings during the uprising.
 
Their verdict is expected on June 2.