ALEXANDRIA: Alexandria Criminal Court on Sunday adjourned to March 17 the trial of five police officers accused of torturing a man to death to force him to falsely confess to his involvement in the bombing outside the Al-Qeddesine Church in the first minutes of 2011. Sayed Belal was arrested in January 2011 following the bombing that left over 20 Christian worshipers and one Muslim guard dead in the coastal city. He was killed days later. Being a conservative Muslim, or Salafi, is believed to be a reason for what observers called his random arrest. The court ordered to continue the detention of the first defendant, Mohamed Abdel Rahman El-Shimi known as Alaa Zidan, and to issue an arrest warrant for the remaining four defendants. The court rejected a request presented by Belal's lawyers to order the testimony of Doctor Ahmed Zkeilah, the owner of the hospital to which Belal's body was taken, and rejected another complaint by the hospital's lawyer as well. The court also accepted a request by the defense lawyers to consider state security police officers, who were interrogated in the case and released, as witnesses to listen to their testimonies, in addition to hearing the testimony of General Magdy Abdel Ghaffar, the current head of Homeland Security. Another request by the defense team was accepted to summon 10 prosecution witnesses, in addition to issuing an official document from the Homeland Security with the names of the interrogations team in charge of the case back then. The prosecution pressed charges against the five defendants, accusing them of deliberately murdering Belal by beating him on the head using a hard object which led to his death, in addition to beating and detaining him without a warrant. The prosecution also charged the first four defendants with ordering the torture of five of Belal's colleagues, which included electrocution and sexual assault, to force them to confess to the contents of the bombing investigations. "I thought I would find the five defendants in the cage, but there is only one which means that Ministry of Interior is misleading [us] and supports those officers," Belal's brother, Ibrahim told Daily News Egypt. "How come the trial starts and those officers get sentenced in absentia, despite the fact that they are at their desks? I demand justice and I confirm that Sayed's right will not be wasted," he added. Addressing the Minister of Interior, Ibrahim said, "I filed a lawsuit to you to hand in these officers because this is unfair and causes a rift between the police and the people.” He also addressed members of the parliament saying, "Some of you know how Belal was murdered and some of you were contacted by the state security to tone down the situation. "I want to know until when you will stay silent and when will you act to bring back Belal's rights?"
