Egypt Minister Vows To Bring Activist's Killer To Court

Egyptian Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim said Monday that he would bring the individual responsible for killing a female activist in Cairo on Saturday to court himself if the individual turned out to be a policeman.



"If a policeman proves to be responsible for killing the activist, I will hand him over to court myself," Ibrahim said at a press conference in Cairo.



"We trust investigations that are currently being carried out by the prosecution authorities and will abide by their results," he added.



Female leftist activist Shaimaa al-Sabagh was gunned down in downtown Cairo on Saturday during a peaceful protest.



The protest was organized by the leftist Popular Alliance to mark the eve of the fourth anniversary of Egypt's Jan. 25 uprising, which ended the autocracy of longstanding President Hosni Mubarak.



Al-Sabagh's death sent shockwaves across Egypt and drew a wave of criticism upon the Interior Ministry, which said that police personnel had had nothing to do with the activist's murder.



The minister, meanwhile, said police had arrested 516 people on Sunday during clashes between police and demonstrators marking the uprising's fourth anniversary.



He added that his ministry's security plan had succeeded in foiling what he called the "schemes" of the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement from which ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi hails.



Around 23 people were killed – and almost 100 injured – in protests on Sunday marking the uprising's anniversary.



The Brotherhood, which the authorities blame for the violence, says it staged 230 protests countrywide on Sunday.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Kahire