CAIRO: Mohamed Anwar, the police officer held in relation to the murder of a pregnant woman in Samalut in northern Minya, was released after a key witness changed her testimony, generating accusations that she was coerced by police. Mervat Abdel Sattar was almost nine months pregnant when she was killed after police raided her home last October while searching for her brother-in-law, wanted on suspicion of theft, and who was found not guilty weeks after her death. Riots erupted immediately after news of her death spread throughout the southern Egyptian village and nine men, all from Abdel Sattar's family, were arrested. Farhana Saied Riyad, the victim's sister-in-law, had identified Anwar last week in a police lineup and he was detained pending trial. However, a day after the complaints were filed, Riyad retracted her testimony, stating that the man she identified in the lineup was not the killer. Malak Adli, a lawyer from the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, alleges that Anwar's colleague, Chief Investigator Tarek Yehia, had intimidated the victim's entire family, threatening to never release the family members detained after the riots. Among the nine men detained, three have obtained a release order from court. Yet, Adli claims that Yehia would not release them until Riyad changed her statement. According to Adli, Riyad was arrested and detained for three days soon after she identified Anwar in the lineup. "She was threatened and psychologically abused which led to a nervous breakdown that is proven in the medical tests she underwent after her release, Adli told Daily News Egypt. He said that the defense team last Tuesday called on Minya's Attorney General to intervene and stop Yehia from obstructing justice in the ongoing investigation. The lawyer said that they will file a report at the Prosecutor General's office against Yehia for "bullying witnesses into changing their statements. The law center had documented Riyad's testimony on video before she changed it. The center will be presenting this video as a clear indication that police disrupted an ongoing investigation. On his part the North Minya Attorney General Mohamed Abou Al So'oud told Daily News Egypt that "no one comes to change their statements accompanied by police officers or any one. They come alone and they come voluntarily. Abou Al So'oud denied that his office knew anything about the witness being under pressure and was suspicious of the defense team's claims. Aboul So'oud said he had forwarded to the prosecution office a fax Adli had sent explaining the police intimidation which allegedly made Riyad change her testimony. The ensuing investigation would determine whether information included in this fax was true, Aboul So'oud added. However, the case will also see a new turn, Adli said, as the victim s nine-year-old son will take the witness stand in court because he saw what happened to his mother.
