CAIRO: The Giza Criminal Court on Sunday said it will issue its verdict of the Mohandiseen shooting trial, where a policeman is accused of murdering a civilian, on May 26. Giza police officer Adel Al-Shahed is standing trial for the murder of Tamer Mashour near the Shooting Club in Mohandiseen last November. Al-Shahed was off duty when the shooting occurred. The Sunday session saw the court hearing the closing statements of the prosecution, Al-Shahed's defense team, as well as the lawyers for the deceased. The prosecution called for the maximum sentence for Al-Shahed, stating that it was a crime committed by a policeman who should have been upholding the law, and alleged that he also removed the bullet from the body of the deceased to cover his crime. The prosecutor also requested that the findings of the police investigations be discounted due to its many discrepancies when put up against the testimonies of the witnesses and the testimony of Al-Shahed himself. Al-Shahed's defense team argued in its closing statement that Al-Shahed shot Mashour in self defense and had been assaulted with a baseball bat prior to the shooting. Lawyers representing Tamer Mashour stated in their argument that the self-defense plea was inaccurate because the forensic report had determined that the shot was fired from a distance further than what Al-Shahed had claimed. On Nov. 21, 2008 an altercation between Ihab Mashour, Tamer's brother, and Al-Shahed's brother Ahmed near the Shooting Club in Mohandiseen eventually led to the death of Tamer Mashour and the injury of Bassem Al-Shuweihy, who both were shot by Al-Shahed. Ihab Mashour, Tamer's brother, says Al-Shahed fired from a distance. "The forensic report stated that the shot was fired from a distance and at an angle which corroborates my version of events, he previously told Daily News Egypt. Al-Shahed had admitted to the presiding judge that he had killed Mashour but stated that it was in self defense. Al-Shahed was also sentenced to one month imprisonment early April by the Dokki Misdemeanors Court for his involvement in the initial altercation that led to Mashour's death. The court sentenced Al-Shahed to one month and a LE 10,000 fine in lieu of compensation. Additionally, Ihab Mashour and his friend Mohamed Fawzy were given a suspended sentence of one month and LE 10,000 fines for their part in the altercation.
