The Interior Ministry last week received formal notification from the Administrative Court of Alexandria that the ministry’s investigations on the 2011 bombing of the Two Saints Church in Alexandria should be handed over to the court on 5 September at the latest
The Interior Ministry last week received formal notification from the Administrative Court of Alexandria that the ministry’s investigations on the 2011 bombing of the Two Saints Church in Alexandria should be handed over to the court on 5 September at the latest.
The bombing, which occurred at midnight on New Year Eve 2011 claimed the lives of 24 victims whose bodies were blown up to pieces as they left the church after Midnight service. A few days prior to the 25 January 2011 Revolution, the Interior Ministry announced the bombing to be the work of the Palestinian Gaish al-Islam (The Army of Islam) in collaboration with local elements. Once the revolution erupted, however, the police stations and prisons all over the country were attacked and prisoners were let out. Those who had been caught for their part in the Alexandria church bombing escaped to Gaza, and no further investigations were conducted since then.
The Interior Ministry had not handed the investigations on the bombing to the Supreme State Security Prosecution, which urged the victims’ families to file a lawsuit against the then ruling Supreme Council for Armed Forces; the prime minister; the interior minister, and the public prosecutor. The lawsuit, according to the lawyer representing the victims’ families, Joseph Malak, was to contest the ministry’s inaction regarding further investigation into the bombing.
WATANI International
23 July 2012