France’s foreign ministry says a Frenchman died while in police custody in the Egyptian capital, reports The Washington Post.
The ministry said Tuesday it was seeking details about the death of the man who Egyptian authorities say was killed by cellmates while in police custody in Cairo.
Egyptian authorities close to the investigation said prosecutors began questioning the Frenchman’s cellmates on Sunday after his corpse revealed signs of bodily harm. Officials have not said if security officers at the downtown Qasr el-Nil police station where the Frenchman died are also being investigated.
The Frenchman was drunk at the time of his arrest on the streets of the upscale Cairo neighborhood of Zamalek, the Egyptian officials said. He was detained after a military-imposed nighttime curfew, according to the authorities.
Despite a handful of curfew breakers and some local cafes that remain open after hours, most of the city’s 18 million people have adhered to the military’s orders.
The curfew has been in effect across much of Egypt for more than a month following a deadly spike in violence after security forces raided two protest camps organized by supporters of former President Mohammed Morsi, who was ousted in a popularly-backed coup.
Read more of this AP report published by The Washington Post.