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Egypt: Judge commits suicide in jail after corruption charges

January 3, 2017 at 9:19 am

Senior Egyptian judge Wael Shalabi has committed suicide a day after police arrested him on corruption charges.

The Middle East News Agency said the secretary-general of Egypt’s State Council hanged himself in his cell.

“My client hanged himself using a scarf he was wearing. He was going through a terrible psychological state during his questioning,” Shalabi’s lawyer, Sayed Beheiry, told Reuters.

“It is very hard to be a big important judge and suddenly you lose everything and sit in front of an investigator being accused of taking a bribe,” he added.

Shalabi’s arrest came days after a procurement manager at Egypt’s State Council, Gamal Al-Din Al-Labban, was arrested and charged with receiving bribes worth millions of Egyptian pounds.

The public prosecutor referred to the two arrests as being part of the same case.

Egypt’s Prosecutor-General, Nabil Sadek, placed a gag order on the case until investigations are concluded.