The family of a Coptic Christian soldier in the Egyptian army, who died under suspicious circumstances in February, is demanding an autopsy.
On 17 February, the Egyptian military informed the family of Michael Gamel Mansour that the 22-year-old conscript from Assuit had committed suicide. They claimed Mansour shot himself. They asserted that moments before his suicide, Mansour became despondent after a family telephone conversation.
No signs
Sources have said that the family do not believe that Mansour killed himself. Family members have said the phone conversation the military cited was about innocuous issues. Mansour was not dealing with any major problems, he gave no signs that he was having any sort of psychological episode and no suicide letter was found.
