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.
