CAIRO: A group of Coptic lawyers filed a lawsuit on Tuesday with the Administrative Court against Minister of Interior Habib El-Adly, calling for mandatory and routine mental health check-ups for all policemen.
The lawsuit also calls on the minister to confiscate the firearms of those diagnosed with a mental disorder.
Lawyer Naguib Gobrael told Daily News Egypt that the lawsuit came after a policeman shot one Coptic man dead and injured five of his family members in a train in Samalout City, Minya. In response to the incident, El-Adly stated that the shooter was mentally ill.
“The law dictates that the ministry should [administer] a medical check-up and [exclude from service] whoever proves to have any medical problems,” said Gobrael. “How can we give an authorized weapon to a mentally ill person to kill citizens?”
The lawsuit stated that the Egyptian police force was in a state of extreme confusion following the Samalout City train shooting, and that the governor of Minya confirmed El-Adly’s statement that the shooter was mentally ill.
“On the second day the governor [of Minya] strongly denied that the shooter was mentally ill, with many officials claiming the same,” the lawsuit read. “On the third day, the lawyer of the shooter confirmed that he was mentally ill, claiming to have documents [to prove it].”
The lawsuit also warned against what it called “the Salafi infiltration” of the Egyptian police.
“The Egyptian police — which is supposed to protect the Egyptian people, whether [they are] Muslims, Copts or even atheists — has been infiltrated by … Salafi thoughts, especially given that the victims said that the shooter had recited some Islamic sayings as if he was performing a religious duty and not just killing people,” the statement added.
The lawsuit also stated that El-Adly violated Articles 3, 46, 71, 76, 87 and 107 of Law 109 of 1971 concerning the police, which oblige the Minister of Interior to prevent someone with a mental disorder from becoming a policeman.
“Instead of arresting whoever was responsible for the bombing of Al-Qeddesine (The Church of the Two Saints) in Alexandria,” the lawsuit concluded, “we were surprised to see the police shooting bullets into the hearts of the citizens who are supposed to be protected – not killed – by them.”
