CAIRO: Egypt's Interior Minister Mansour Essawy announced the termination of service of over 669 police officers at a press conference held at the Interior Ministry on Wednesday. In the largest single turnover event in the history of Egypt's police force, 82 colonels and 505 brigadier generals were let go, and 54 officers have been moved to different posts that involve less direct interaction with the public. Commenting on the composition of the group, Minister Essawy explained that he does not have the authority to fire low ranked officers, just higher ranked members of the police force, Al Arabiya reports. Of the 587 officers whose service was terminated, 37 have been specifically accused of being involved in killing protesters. In the crackdown following the January 25 revolution almost 900 protesters were killed. So far only one police officer has been found guilty of killing protesters. On May 22, Mohamed Ibrahim Abdel Monem was found guilty of firing randomly into a crowd of unarmed civilians on January 28, killing 20. After consultation with the Grand Mufti, who must approve all death sentences, Abdel Monem, who has evaded capture, was tried and sentenced to death in absentia. According to VOA, protesters swarmed around the Cairo courthouse on July 4 after a judge released 7 police officers accused of involvement in the deaths of 17 protesters on bail until their trials are scheduled to begin in September. Protesters took to the streets in Suez on July 6 to express anger over further police acquittals. Egypt is still waiting for the trials of former Interior Minister Habib Adli and Hosni Mubarak, who also face charges of involvement in the deaths of protesters. BM
