CAIRO — An Egyptian court has sentenced a policeman to 15 years imprisonment for manslaughter for torturing an Egyptain to death. The Alexandria Criminal Court found Osama El-Kounayassi guilty of using torture to extract confessions from the man, suspected of involvement in a suicide bombing at a Coptic Christian church over two years ago. El-Kounayassi had earlier won a retrial after another court found him guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment in absentia. The man was arrested along with other suspects in the aftermath of the bombing on Jan. 1, 2011, when at least 21 Christians were killed while leaving a New Year's Eve mass in the port city of Alexandria. Anger over police use of torture was a key grievance behind Egypt's 2011 popular revolt. The leader of Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Church has blasted the country's president over his handling of the recent deadly sectarian violence, including an attack on the main cathedral in Cairo. Pope Tawadros II says that President Mohamed Morsi had promised him in a telephone conversation to do everything to protect the cathedral, “but in reality he did not.” Asked to explain Morsi's attitude, Tawadros said it “comes under the category of negligence and poor assessment of events.”
The Coptic pope spoke in a telephone interview Tuesday to a political talk show aired on the private ONTV network. An angry mob of Muslims threw firebombs and rocks Sunday at the Coptic cathedral in Cairo, leaving two Christians dead. – Agencies
