Egypt to try policeman over driver's killing

Egypt will prosecute a policeman over the killing of a taxi driver and has arrested seven who planned to appear on television to discuss police problems, prosecution officials said Sunday.

Amid mounting concern over police abuses, Mustafa Mahmud has been charged with "premeditated murder" and illegal use of his service weapon", an official at the prosecutor's office said.

Mahmud is alleged to have shot dead taxi driver Mohamed Ali Sayed Ismail, 26, with his police issue firearm late Thursday in central Cairo after a row over the fare for a delivery.

Seven of his colleagues were arrested late Saturday as they headed to a private television station where they had been expected to speak about legal problems facing the force, another official said.

The state prosecutor remanded them in custody for 15 days pending an investigation on charges of "incitement" and for allegedly setting up an "illegal group", the official said.

The policemen's television appearance would have "further stirred public opinion against the police," the official added.

Police have been on the defensive after a string of deaths in custody, reminiscent of abuses that sparked the 18-day uprising that toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Five years later, human rights groups are again denouncing torture and deaths in police stations, arbitrary arrests and the disappearances of opponents of the regime.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Friday said he would ask parliament to amend the law to toughen sanctions for police abuses, following outrage on social media and after dozens of protesters gathered outside Cairo police headquarters.

Last week, thousands of doctors held a protest against the police after officers allegedly assaulted two doctors in a hospital.

Over the past year, several policeman have been detained for violence against prisoners and some have been sentenced to jail terms.

After then army chief Sisi overthrew his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi in 2013, authorities have led a brutal crackdown on his supporters, killing hundreds and jailing thousands.

Members of the secular opposition who led the 2011 revolt have also been arrested and imprisoned.