In late May, lawyers for a Muslim accused of stabbing a Coptic woman to death in Egypt are persisting with a claim of innocence by reason of insanity, in spite of a psychiatric evaluation that found he was fit to stand trial.
Confirming fears of human rights activists who said attorneys for Mahmoud Mohamed Ali would use a tactic that has freed other Muslims from punishment for premeditated, religiously motivated murder, the lawyers are challenging results of the evaluation.
More observations
They have filed a petition to send Ali for a second round of observations. Twelve days after his arrest in February in connection with the murder of 30-year-old Madline Wagih Demian in Upper Egypt, investigators transferred Ali to a psychiatric facility for examination when his attorneys and family claimed he was mentally ill. After 45 days of observation, however, three state-appointed doctors found he was fit to stand trial.
‘We find that the mentioned person does not need to be kept in the hospital any more, as his condition does not require hospitalisation as he is well and sound’, the report concludes. ‘The accused does not suffer from any mental problems.’
