(Cairo, October 20, 2022) The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) calls for announcing the results of the investigations into the events that revolve around the famous Egyptian singer “Sherine Abdel Wahab,” which is going in two opposite directions, as her brother Mohamed Abdel Wahab claims to have protected her from her ex-husband and admitted her to a sanatorium for drug addiction treatment. At the same time, Yasser Kantoush, the lawyer of the famous singer, filed a complaint against her brother, accusing him of beating her and forcibly bringing her to a mental health facility. Therefore, ECWR sheds light on this case for the following reasons:
First: To defend of the singer “Sherine” as an Egyptian woman who was assaulted and defamed. Second: The incident constitutes a dangerous turning point that can be used as a way against other women to settle personal or civil conflicts
Third: To present the international principles and national laws related to the care and treatment of patients, especially mental illness.
According to Egyptian national media and the declaration released by Mohamed Abdel Wahab and other members of Sherine Abdel Wahab’s family, the singer was admitted to a hospital facility a few days ago. According to the singer’s family, the reasons behind this are addressed to her alleged abuse of drugs, which the family claimed was related to Sherine’s renewed relationship to her ex-husband, the singer Hossam Habib. The concern of the family was also raised by the singers drop of the claims against her ex-husband and the possibility of reconciliation between the two. The public prosecution office has launched an investigation on this matter, and interrogated the hospital’s director and its technical manager, who “gave a testimony that contradicted what was said in the singer’s complaint”.
Whether this is what has been reported on the news so far, ECWR aims at reassessing the crucial importance of respecting the national and international provisions of patient care and treatment. According to the UN General Assembly Resolution 46/119 (1991) Principle 1(2) “All persons with a mental illness, or who are being treated as such persons, shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.”. Moreover, where the dignity of the human person and the respect of universal human rights should be the core of patient treatment as stated by Principle 1(5) (“Every person with a mental illness shall have the right to exercise all civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights”), the discretion of the patient’s legal capacity is exposed in Principle 1(6). This section provides for the criteria to determine the patient’s legal capacity as follows “Any decision that, by reason of his or her mental illness, a person lacks legal capacity, and any decision that, in consequence of such incapacity, a personal representative shall be appointed, shall be made only after a fair hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal established by domestic law.”
Also Egyptian National Law gives provisions on the matter. According to the Psychiatric Patient Care Law No. 71 of 2009 amended by Law No. 210 of 2020 Chapter (2): Compulsory admission (Article 13): “No person may be compulsorily admitted for psychiatric treatment in a mental health facility without the approval of a physician specialized in psychiatry, when there are clear signs of a severe mental illness whose treatment requires entering a mental health facility, in two cases: The first: the possibility of a severe and imminent deterioration of the mental illness condition, Second: If the symptoms of mental illness represent a serious and imminent threat to the safety, health, or life of the patient, or the safety, health and life of others”. Moreover, as stated in Article (16): “A psychiatric patient may not be kept compulsorily in a mental health facility for more than a week except after two psychiatric evaluations have been carried out for the patient by two psychiatrists registered with the competent regional council of mental health, as the case may be, one from outside the facility and the other from working there, provided that one of them is a government employee…”
Finally, in light of allegations about the singer’s family economic interests in this matter, it is vital to remark that under Principle 4 (2-3) of the abovementioned resolution, “A determination of mental illness shall never be made on the basis of political, economic or social status, or membership of a cultural, racial or religious group, or any other reason not directly relevant to mental health status” and “Family or professional conflict, or non-conformity with moral, social, cultural or political values or religious beliefs prevailing in a person’s community, shall never be a determining factor in diagnosing mental illness.”
The case of Sherine Abdel Wahab calls for a closer attention to her rights as a patient under the Egyptian National Law and these international provisions. As there has not been yet any determination of her legal capacity, the subject should be free to choose her own line of treatment and should be entitled with the right to refuse treatment. Whether due to her public role this gained a lot of momentum in the Egyptian media, the story of Sherine is the story of many Egyptian women that lack the right of self-representation due to the highly patriarchal structure of Egyptian families
Nehad Abulkomsan, cassation lawyer and ECWR’s chairwoman, stated that announcing the results of investigations into all allegations is important and essential to provide the necessary protection for the singer ‘Sherine’ in the first place and to protect all members of society, especially women, from following this approach as a means to resolve conflicts for other purposes.
Accordingly, the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights demands to verify the story of the singer’s family, Sherine, regarding her protection from her ex-husband, and to investigate the hospital to verify her lawyer’s claim that she was beaten and forcibly admitted to the hospital, as well as to hold accountable all those involved in this incident under Egyptian law, and to announce the results of the incident by the prosecution the public.
