CAIRO: A group of human rights lawyers and the Church of All Saints in Alexandria filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Egyptian cabinet for the slowness of the investigation into the church bombing on New Year's Eve. The lawsuit is against Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, Minister of Interior Mansour el-Essawy and General Prosecutor Abdel Meguid Mahmoud. A carbomb exploded right outside the entrance of the church targeting worshipers, who were on their way out, killing 21 and injuring over 100. The former government had started an investigation in the bombing, but no official results were announced before the regime was toppled in February. Millions of Egyptians took to the streets around the country demanding the removal of President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule and did so in 18 days of protests. A number of people were arrested on suspicion and were under investigations, but they were later released and newspapers and media outlets were prohibited from publishing any information regarding the investigations. A previous lawsuit was filed a few month ago against former minister of interior Habib al-Adly over neglect, accusing him of failing to secure the church. Reports said that only a couple of soldiers were on duty that night to protect the hundreds who were praying inside. Adly is currently on trial, along with six of his top aides at the ministry as well as Mubarak over the killing of Egyptian protesters during the uprising. Around 1,000 Egyptians were killed and thousands more were injured when police opened fire on the crowds. Church lawyer Joseph Malak told reporters Thursday that the case's file was never complete and demanded the publication of all available information in the case for the families of the dead. He added that the families had great hope that the post-revolution atmosphere would “bring more transparency to the case,” which so far has been neglected in favor of other events. BM
