CAIRO, Sept 21 (Aswat Masriya) - The Matariya Misdemeanours Court sentenced nine low-ranking police officers to three years imprisonment late Tuesday over accusations of verbal and physical assault on doctors at a Matariya hospital earlier this year.

The court also fined the convicts EGP 5,000 each and ordered that the doctors be financially reimbursed.

The prosecution accused the officers of verbal and physical assault, using violence and abusing their authority as police personnel.

The incident dates back to Jan. 28 when a video published by Egyptian news portal Mobtada featured a doctor who works at the hospital detailing the assault perpetrated against him by low-ranking policemen as he attempted to provide one of them with healthcare. 

Doctor Ahmed Abdullah recounted in the video details of how he was "dragged" and "handcuffed" after he told a low ranking policeman that his wound was "superficial" and would likely not require stitches. More policemen later arrived at the hospital as tensions escalated and Abdullah was taken to the police station along with his colleague.  

Provoked by the incident, the doctors' syndicate convened an emergency general assembly meeting two weeks later. This triggered one of the largest assemblies of protest in the past two years where thousands chanted against police brutality.

More than a dozen local rights groups expressed their "full solidarity" with the doctors' syndicate at the time and demanded a "speedy investigation" into the assault.

Commenting on the ruling, the doctors' syndicate said in a statement on Wednesday that it was "a step on the way of ending the phenomenon of assault on hospitals."

The syndicate added that it presented the parliament's health committee with a draft entailing a harsher punishment against those accused of attacking hospitals.

Lawyer Sayeda Qandil from the lawyers' syndicate freedoms committee told Aswat Masriya that she was happy with the verdict, but had hoped for a harsher punishment.

"Based on the evidence, the prosecution's referral order should have included more charges and the case should have been under the jurisdiction of the terrorism law and not the penal code as was the case," Qandil said.

Under the terrorism law, the minimum sentence is a five-year imprisonment, Qandil said as she questioned why interior ministry officials are not subjected to the terrorism law the same way citizens are.

The assault on the Matariya doctors had been preceded by a string of incidents involving alleged police abuse.

In November, Talaat Shabib from Luxor was killed in custody after he was tortured. Six police officers accused in the case were sentenced to between three and seven years in prison in July. 

Over 600 torture cases have been documented throughout 2015 by Egypt's anti-torture El Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence.

In February, Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called for legislative amendments to be introduced to the police authority law with the aim of regulating police performance on the streets in line with "human rights standards," according to a presidency statement then.

The amendments were in effect starting mid-August after the parliament's approval.

"We want to reach a level of trust with the interior ministry," Qandil said, "the security establishment must be disciplined, after all it is the one responsible for the security and safety of citizens."