Egypt's public prosecution will interrogate 13 officials from the Interior Ministry on Sunday over the fighting in and around Cairo's Tahrir Square over the past week, according to judicial sources.
Clashes near the square between security forces and protesters, which extended to other Egyptian governorates, left at least 42 dead ― 36 in Cairo alone ― as well as nearly 2000 injured, according to the Health Ministry.
Last Tuesday, head of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) Hussein Tantawi decided to have public prosecution investigate the killings, apparently in an attempt to placate angry protesters who are pressing the council to hand over power to civilians.
The sources, who asked not to be named, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the interior minister's assistant for Central Security Forces and his deputy are among the officials to be questioned. They added, however, that outgoing Interior Minister Mansour al-Essawy will not be interrogated.
The officials will be interrogated over the kind of weapons police officers possessed during their encounters with demonstrators, what orders they gave to officers, and whether they ordered the use of live ammunition.
The sources added that the prosecution on Saturday listened to the account of Mahmoud Ali, a senior Cairo security official who was involved in the clashes.
Ashraf al-Refai, vice manager of the Forensic Medicine Authority, said his department has finished its autopsies on those killed in the clashes. He told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the majority of victims had been killed by fatal gunshot wounds, while some others died from being hit by solid objects.
The public prosecution commenced its interrogations on Saturday with Mohamed Sobhy al-Menshawy, a police officer who appeared in a video clip allegedly showing him shooting protesters in their eyes. Activists who have been circulating the video are demanding he be tried.
On Thursday, Public Prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud asked the Interior Ministry to hand over the officer for interrogation. A security source said the officer was turned over on the condition that his questioning date be concealed to protect him from potential assaults.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
