Reuters reported that Egyptian prosecutors on Saturday charged two policemen with murdering a man by throwing him off a balcony in Cairo, security sources said. A security source gave the policemen s names as Maher Hassan and Hassan Sobhi, and said prosecutors had accused them of killing Nasr Gadallah, 37, in August last year. Forensic examination of Gadallah confirmed he had died of the impact, but offered no opinion as to whether he was pushed or jumped, as the two policemen say. Gadallah s case is one of a number of high profile cases of suspected police abuse that gained wide-spread attention after a video circulated on the Internet last year showing a man being sodomized with a stick in a Cairo police station. Two policemen were later sentenced to three years in prison for torture in that case. International and local rights groups say torture is systematic in Egyptian jails and police stations. Past victims have reported receiving electric shocks and beatings. The government says it opposes torture and prosecutes policemen when there is evidence. -Agencies
