17 acquitted in Egyptian protest case

CAIRO — An Egyptian court acquitted 17 people Saturday over taking part in an unsanctioned demonstration earlier this year in which a young mother was shot to death in downtown Cairo.

At least one of those affected by the decision is a witness to the killing of 32-year-old Shaimaa el-Sabbagh, an unarmed protester taking part in a peaceful demonstration. A police lieutenant faces a manslaughter charge over her killing at the January demonstration on the eve of the anniversary of Egypt’s 2011 revolt against autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Azza Suleiman, an activist who was among those acquitted, said she was at a restaurant across the street when the protest began.

“People carrying flowers, and the police attacked these people and in the end killed a young women,” she said when reached by phone after the verdict.

But after Suleiman went to the prosecutor to give a statement about what she saw, the prosecutor charged her in this case — an attempt, she said, to “shut up” people from bearing witness against the police.

Egyptian police have consistently maintained they didn’t fire birdshot at the protesters despite overwhelming photographic and physical evidence to the contrary.