Two Egyptian police officers were sentenced by the South Cairo Criminal Court on Monday to three years and six months in prison for the wrongful death of a detainee, a popular painter known as “Afroto.” Egyptian news agency Mada Masr reports that Afroto was allegedly killed in prison on January 5, 2018, and eyewitnesses told the agency “that Afroto was beaten and tortured to death.” Two investigations were launched, which resulted in the two defendants’ sentencing on Monday. Afroto was an artist who protested the Egyptian government. Since President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi took power after a 2013 coup against Mohammed Morsi, he has allegedly used detention without trial and torture to intimidate journalists and restrict press freedoms. Lawyers defending the wrongfully-detained are often themselves subjected to pressure and injustice. In 2016 a lawyer who filed a suit against al-Sisi was arrested and detained without trial. Egypt is ranked 161/180 on the … [Read more...] about Egypt court sentences police officers for detainee death
Egypt
Former Egypt forward Aboutrika handed jail sentence for tax evasion
CAIRO (Reuters) - Former Egypt forward Mohamed Aboutrika, one of the country's most famous sportsmen, has been sentenced to a year in jail on charges of tax evasion, local media reported on Tuesday. A commercial and financial crimes court in Cairo passed the sentence against Aboutrika in absentia on Monday, the state-run al-Ahram newspaper reported. The court found Aboutrika guilty of evading taxes on earnings of 710,000 Egyptian pounds ($40,000) for doing advertisements for a soft drinks and a telecoms firm. The paper said the court ordered the former player who now lives in Qatar to pay 20,000 pounds as a bond to turn the prison term into a suspended sentence. Aboutrika, 40, played 100 times for Egypt from 2001-13, scoring 38 goals and helping his country win the African Nations Cup in 2006 and 2008. (Reporting by Sami Aboudi, editing by Ed Osmond) … [Read more...] about Former Egypt forward Aboutrika handed jail sentence for tax evasion
Cat Mummies, Animal Statues Discovered in Egypt Sarcophagi
Cairo (AFP) – Seven sarcophagi, some dating back more than 6,000 years, have been discovered at a site on the edge of the pyramid complex in Saqqara, south of the Egyptian capital, archaeology officials announced Saturday. Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Enany said the discovery was made by an Egyptian archaeological mission during excavation work started in April.Three of the tombs had been used for cats, he said, while one of four other sarcophagi discovered at the site belonged to Khufu-Imhat, overseer of the buildings in the royal palace. Mostafa Waziri, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the mission had also unearthed the first mummies of scarabs to be found in the area. Two such mummies were found inside a rectangular limestone sarcophagus with a vaulted lid decorated with three scarabs painted in black, he said. Dozens of cat mummies were also unearthed along with 100 wooden, gilded statues of cats and one in bronze dedicated to the cat goddess … [Read more...] about Cat Mummies, Animal Statues Discovered in Egypt Sarcophagi
Egypt’s newly discovered tombs contain cat mummies
News / World by Press Association 11/11/2018, 1:48 pm FacebookTwitterWhatsAppEmail Send us a story Sign up to our Daily newsletter Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered seven Pharaonic Age tombs near the capital Cairo containing dozens of cat mummies along with wooden statues depicting other animals and birds. Ministry official Mostafa Waziri told reporters that the discovery at Saqqara also includes mummies of scarabs, the first ever to be found in the area. Of the statues found, those depicting cats were the majority, reflecting the reverence ancient Egyptians showed the felines, whose God Bastet was worshipped. Other statues depicted a lion, a cow and a falcon. Egypt has been promoting its new historical discoveries in the hopes of reviving a devastated tourism sector still recovering from the turmoil following a 2011 uprising that toppled long-time leader Hosni Mubarak. Sign up to our Daily newsletter More from the Evening Express … [Read more...] about Egypt’s newly discovered tombs contain cat mummies
Archaeologists find mummified CATS after uncovering seven 4,500-year-old tombs in huge burial ground near Egypt pyramids
DOZENS of mummified cats have been unearthed in Egypt after archaeologists discovered a huge burial ground near the pyramids south of Cairo. The collection was found in seven tombs which experts have been working on for the past six months on the edge of the King Userkaf pyramid complex at Saqqara, south of the capital. As they were preparing the site to present the latest discoveries, archaeologists found the door of another tomb that remains sealed, Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told reporters. The tomb dates from the Fifth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom and is unusual because the facade and door are intact, meaning its contents may still be untouched, said Mohamed Youssef, director of the Saqqara area. He said experts plan to open the tomb in the coming weeks. The Fifth Dynasty ruled Egypt from about 2,500 BC to 2,350 BC, not long after the great pyramid of Giza was built. The tombs lie in a buried ridge that has only partially been … [Read more...] about Archaeologists find mummified CATS after uncovering seven 4,500-year-old tombs in huge burial ground near Egypt pyramids