Egypt court jails 50 policemen over strike

CAIRO: An Egyptian court has jailed 50 policemen for three years after convicting them on charges related to a strike earlier this year, state media reported.

The low-ranking policemen were also fined 6,000 Egyptian pounds (roughly $330) by the South Sinai court on Thursday, the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper reported on its website.

The policemen had gone on strike in January to protest reduced holidays and allegedly “threatened violence” against superior officers, the newspaper said.

Egyptian policemen held several demonstrations and strikes after the 2011 overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak.

The authorities have shown little tolerance for protests since the army toppled Mubarak’s successor Mohammed Mursi in 2013, unleashing a bloody crackdown on his followers and a deadly extremist insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s state-run news agency reported a policeman and a civilian have been killed in a drive-by shooting attack.

MENA said two gunmen opened fire from a car in the town of Asna, just south of the ancient city of Luxor, the previous evening.

Friday’s report cited an Interior Ministry statement as saying the gunmen targeted a police checkpoint and that three other civilians were wounded. The statement said the police tried to chase down the attackers and arrested one of them while the other managed to flee.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.