Some defense lawyers withdrew from the Port Said football violence trial at the beginning of Thursday’s session, in protest of what they said was the torture of 10 defendants at Tora Prison on Wednesday evening.
The Port Said Criminal Court on Thursday resumed its trial of 75 suspects accused of perpetrating attacks at Port Said Stadium on 1 February that left 74 dead.
Safwat Abdel Hamid, the head of the Port Said branch of the Lawyers Syndicate, said he filed an official complaint over what he said was the torture and electric shocking of 10 defendants in the case.
As the session opened, Abdel Hamid asked the court to examine the condition of the defendants and for the public prosecutor to take all necessary actions to ensure the their rights are protected. He then announced that the defense team would withdraw from the trial session, though not all lawyers left.
Al-Akhbar reported that head Judge Sobhy Abdel Meguid referred the torture allegations to the Public Prosecution after a court panel examined the defendants and confirmed that they had been tortured. According to the report, the defendants complained that as they entered Tora Prison, Port Said police officer Said Shokry incited other prisoners to attack them, and the other prisoners then tortured them.
On Wednesday, the court session was adjourned three times due to arguments between the defense lawyers and lawyers representing the victims’ relatives.
The same day, Egypt’s chief coroner Ihsan Kamil Georgy angered the victims’ families by telling the court that the corpses displayed no blade wounds and that they were most likely killed by asphyxiation.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
