[The following press release was issued by the General Secretariat of Mental Health on 24 October 2011 in regards to the mental hospital referral of activist Michael Nabil Sanad, on trial because of allegedly insulting the military institution last March.]
Considering the ongoing events the media department of the General Mental Health Secretariat condemns all attempts to abuse mental hospitals for purposes other than the ones they were designed for and reminds that the previous regime used to accuse mentally healthy individuals of being mentally disturbed and accuse them of crimes of conscience despite professional reports stating their sanity, as was the case in the famous Beni Mazar case. That is no longer acceptable today.
A referral order to Abaseyya mental hospital was issued recently of activist Michael Nabil Sanad, on trial because of allegedly insulting the military institution last March. Sanad refused to attend the court session in protest of referring civilians to military trials.
The referral of political activists and crimes of conscience to mental hospitals claiming to assess their mental condition is a dangerous and unacceptable affair and brings to memory dark periods of the history of humanity when opponents to the political and social system were incarcerated in mental hospitals with the aim of isolating them from society and stigmatizing them and consequently ridiculing their opinions and views, even after proven mentally health. The incarceration of an individual whose charge is having a different view of the situation in the country is morally and professionally unacceptable. Sanad is kept in one ward with others accused of criminal charges, a matter that is involves terrorizing and threat.
The media department of the General Secretariat for Mental health warns that such procedure only helps to deepens the stigma surrounding mental hospitals and obstructs efforts to lift such stigma as well as tarnishes the reputation of mental health professionals.
The media department calls upon activits and those concerned with mental health and human rights to support its efforts in immediately expressing its opposition to such procedure, supporting the slogan: hospitals are a patient’s right, freedom of thought and expression is a society’s right. It also calls upon mass media to address mental health and patients’ issues with the respect and dignity they deserve, for the sake of preserving their human rights and their reintegration in society.
Dr. Basma Abdel Aziz
Director of Media Department
General Secretariat of Mental Health
Cairo 24 October 2011