Egyptian Court orders imprisoned Christian activist to Mental Hospital
By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent
CAIRO, EGYPT (Worthy News)– An Egyptian Military Court ordered that an imprisoned Christian activist be admitted to a mental health hospital to determine whether he’s responsible for his actions.
Michael Nabil Sanad was sent to Abbasiya Hospital in Cairo, a facility that specializes in treating seriously ill psychiatric patients.
Writer William Weesa said this was very dangerous because “there are many people who were admitted to these hospitals by the security services, who were quite healthy when they went in, but came out as a devastated human beings.”
Weesa asked that this “farce perpetrated against a prisoner of conscience” be stopped.
Attorney Mamdouh Nakhla, head of the Al-Kalema Center for Human Rights, questioned how the court could order an evaluation of Sanad’s mental capabilities without a request from his family, especially since he may be subjected to electric shock therapy at Abbasiya for no less than 45 days.
“He will be discharged in the end after loosing his mind and will be released due to insanity,” said Nakhla.
In April, Sanad was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for “insulting the military and dissemination of false news about the armed forces” in his blog, “Son of Ra”; he has been on a hunger strike since August.
The European Union has asked Egyptian authorities to uphold international standards in protecting prisoners.