Egyptian police 'eye sniper' gets 3-year-sentence

CAIRO (AP) -- A Cairo court has convicted a police sniper for attacks on anti-government protesters and sentenced him to three years in prison.

Police officer Mahmoud el-Shenawi became known as the "eye sniper" after he was shown in footage on social networking sites allegedly firing at protesters in the Egyptian capital and aiming for their eyes.

He is said to have inflicted blindness and serious injuries on his targets.

The Cairo Criminal Court on Tuesday found el-Shenawi guilty of attempted murder of five men during the deadly November 2011 protests, when several days of violence in a street leading to the heavily fortified Interior Ministry killed 42 people.

Mohammed Mahmoud street became another icon of Egypt's revolution, along with Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the uprising that ousted longtime president Hosni Mubarak.