CAIRO: The trial of a police officers Islam Nabih and Reda Fathi, accused of detaining, torturing and sodomizing 21-year-old microbus driver Emad Al-Kabir in January 2006, is scheduled to start on Saturday, March 3. Denied bail, the two policemen have reportedly been detained in a Central Security Forces camp since Jan. 2007 awaiting their trial. If convicted, Captain Nabih and Corporal Fathi may face a long time behind bars. "I expect the court will decide an imprisonment penalty for a period of three to 10 years, which will be in accordance with penalties for cases of sexual abuse listed in the penal code, Nassir Amin, Al-Kabir's defense lawyer said in a previous interview with The Daily Star Egypt. Al-Kabir was allegedly detained by two plainclothes officers on Jan. 18, 2006, after he intervened in a verbal tussle between the officers and his cousin. After being taken to Bulaq Al-Dakrur police station in Cairo, the young microbus driver was reportedly subjected to torture and was sodomized. The abuse was filmed on the mobile phone of one of the police officers and was later leaked on the Internet. According to representatives from Amnesty International, they police officers will also stand trial for filming the torture of A.-Kabir on the charge of "obtaining and distributing materials harmful to public moral and decency. The disturbing video depicting Al-Kabir being raped with a stick while begging for mercy spread like a wildfire across Internet blogs, sparking rage among the international community and attracting unwanted attention to the authorities from the international press and media. "The people responsible for this disgusting crime must face justice. The government should send the message that it won't tolerate torture by police or any other officials, Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East Director at Human Rights Watch, stated. In December, Al-Kabir publicly identified Nabih and Fathi as his torturers and filed a complaint against them with the public prosecutor. However, while the police officers were summoned for questioning in late December 2006, the victim received an unpleasant surprise during the first days of the New Year: He was slammed with a three-month prison sentence. Referring to a police report dated Jan. 18, 2006, which indicated that Al-Kabir was detained for "resisting authorities and assaulting a police officer, a criminal court in Giza meted out the sentence.
