Skip to content
  • Image
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Youtube
  • Podcasts
  • Email
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Opinion
  • News
  • Features
  • Comment
  • Store
The Arab Daily News

The Arab Daily News

Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem

  • About
    • About
    • Our Writers
    • Subscribe to Ray’s Columns
    • Book Store
    • Contact
    • Submit Book Reviews, Press Releases
    • Advertise
    • Privacy Corrections Policy
    • Profile on Ray Hanania
    • Submit Press Release
  • Features
    • Food
    • Book Review
    • Humor
    • Movies
    • Travel
  • Arab Stores Targeted
  • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Community Network Page
    • Arab Heritage America resources
    • Directory
      • Groups & Organizations
      • Mosques, Churches
      • Restaurants
      • 2008 & 2014 Arab Media Directories
    • National Arab Heritage Month
    • Video: Chicago Arab History
    • Video: Photo Array of Chicago Arabs
    • Overview of Arabs in America
    • Hanania standup comedy
    • Arabs on the Titanic
    • Obituaries
  • Podcasts
    • Arab News Ray Hanania Radio
    • Ray Hanania on Politics Podcast
    • Podcast Info
    • Hanania Podcast intro
    • Live Arab Radio
  • Your Views
  • Hanania on Tiktok
  • Toggle search form
  • Arab Democratic Club Feb 12, 2023 Forum & Brunch flier
    Arab Democrats host forum for Chicago and suburban candidates Feb. 12 American Arabs
  • The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced Dr. Manal Fakhoury has been elected to the position of Chair of the National Board of Directors, and that attorneys Spojmie Nasiri of California and John Floyd of Texas have joined the organization’s National Board.
    CAIR Announces Dr. Manal Fakhoury as New Board Chair, New Board Members Spojmie Nasiri and John Floyd American Arabs
  • AHRC Executive Director Imad Hamad
    AHRC: Honor Dr. King Day with Civility, Unity, and Action American Arabs
  • Citgo Gas Station and Quik Mart at 3759 W. Chicago Ave in Chicago ordered closed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot because a street gang member with an AK-47 killed someone in front of the store. Only Arab and Muslim stores are being closed by the Mayor
    When Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot targeted Arab businesses in 2021 and 2022 Activism
  • Hussam al-Mayman, The Mayman Show, podcast Arab News
    Arab News launches third season of The Mayman Show podcast Arab News
  • State Rep. Cyril Nichols interviewed on live Arab American radio in Detroit with host Ray Hanania Friday Dec. 9, 2022
    Nichols discusses need to improve Arab-Black relations in Chicagoland American Arabs
  • Voting sticker issued to voters in Cook County elections in 2016. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Gov. Pritzker Announces Six Appointments to Boards and Commissions — no Arabs included American Arabs
  • Closure notice posted on the doors and windows of Arab American businesses during Mayor Lori Lightfoot's closure of Arab owned stores in June - Sept. 2021. Photo courtesy of Ray Hanania
    Pritzker again ignores needs of Arab businesses in latest appointments Activism
  • Arab American Democratic Club (AADC) official candidate endorsements for the November 8, 2022 General elections.
    Arab American Democratic Club issues endorsements for Nov. 8, 2022 Cook County Illinois elections Activism
  • Arab Democrats urge NO VOTE on Gov. J.B. Pritzker re-election bid Activism
  • Assyrian American GOP issues endorsements in Nov, 8, 2022 elections
    Assyrian American GOP group endorses candidates in Illinois Activism
  • Abdullah Hammoud, elected Mayor of Dearborn Nov. 2, 2021. Photo courtesy of Abdullah Hammoud Facebook Page
    AHRC’s 2022 Spirit of Humanity Gala a Great Success American Arabs
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts Arab World
  • Rep. Cyril Nichols to be feted by supporters at fundraiser Saturday Oct. 22 Activism
  • Stand up For Human Rights website, United Nations
    UN experts condemn Israel’s ‘sadistic’ punitive measures against French-Palestinian rights defender Salah Hammouri Activism

Health of journalist Hisham Gaafar deteriorates in jail

Posted on August 16, 2017August 16, 2017 By rayhanania No Comments on Health of journalist Hisham Gaafar deteriorates in jail
SHARE ...
          
 
  

  • Tweet

Health of journalist Hisham Gaafar deteriorates in jail

Held 21 Months Without Trial Despite Serious Illness

Egyptian authorities should immediately provide appropriate health care to the imprisoned journalist Hisham Gaafar, whose health, including his eyesight, is deteriorating in detention, Human Rights Watch said today. If prison authorities are unable to provide him necessary health care, they should allow him to seek care in private health facilities.

The Interior Ministry’s National Security Agency arrested Gaafar, director of the Mada Foundation for Media Development, a private media company, at his office in October 2015. Prosecutors have ordered Gaafar detained pending investigation on charges that include membership in the Muslim Brotherhood and illegally receiving foreign funds for his foundation, his lawyers told Human Rights Watch.

Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt February 2011. Photo courtesy of Zemanta/Wikipedia
Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt February 2011. Photo courtesy of Zemanta/Wikipedia

“Egypt’s Interior Ministry has shown contempt for Hisham Gaafar’s health and well-being,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The fact that the Interior Ministry refuses to provide him his rightful care is a sad testament to Egyptian authorities’ disregard for detainees’ most basic rights.”

Gaafar, 53, has an eye condition – optic nerve atrophy – that requires ongoing specialist care or he may risk losing his sight altogether. He also suffers from a years-long prostate enlargement condition and risks complications if he does not receive the proper treatment. His eyesight is deteriorating and his health has worsened during his time in detention, in poor conditions, his family said.

Immediately following his arrest, police took Gaafar to his home, where officers seized his personal publications, work papers, computers, and phones, including those belonging to his wife and children. They detained his family inside the home for 17 hours. Security officers confiscated all his medical documents and reports and have not returned them to his family, despite their requests.

National Security officers then took Gaafar to an undisclosed location and held him for two days without access to his family or lawyers. His family heard of his whereabouts when a lawyer saw him by coincidence in the Supreme State Security Prosecution office in Cairo. Prosecutors have kept him in pretrial detention since then.

Under Egyptian law, prosecutors have broad power to hold those suspected of committing major offenses, including political and national security crimes, in pretrial detention for up to five months without regular judicial review, and judges can extend the detention for up to two years without requiring any substantive justification from prosecutors.

A judge should immediately review the necessity and legality of Gaafar’s detention and either send him to trial without further delays or release him, Human Rights Watch said.

During Gaafar’s time in detention, most of it spent in the maximum security Scorpion Prison in Cairo, the Interior Ministry’s Prisons Authority has not provided needed medicine but has intermittently allowed Gaafar to receive the eye vitamins and prostate medicine he required, after completely banning such supplies for the first two months of his detention. During those two months, his wife, Manar, told Human Right Watch, prison authorities kept Gaafar alone in a cell that, in his words, resembled a “tomb” without sunlight.

Later, they allowed his family very short and irregular visits, with no chance to verify whether he had received the medicine they had given to prison guards for him. Since March 2017, prison authorities have again denied him visits from relatives and his lawyer.

Before he was detained, Gaafar used special optic tools to read and glasses for everyday life. He also needed some assistance in his daily routine, his wife said. Prison authorities allowed his wife to deliver the glasses several months after his detention, but when they reached him, they were broken. The way the glasses were broken suggested it had been deliberate, his wife said. She delivered new ones, but he has not had a new eye examination. His wife said that he recently told her he was not seeing as well as before, even with the glasses, suggesting his eyesight may have deteriorated.

Gaafar has had optic nerve atrophy in both eyes since he was a teenager, according to his wife. Medical documents and reports from 2012, which she provided to Human Rights Watch after she retrieved them from a hospital, stated that at the time he had only 10 percent of his vision remaining in his left eye. Optic nerve atrophy has no cure, but it can be slowed by exposure to sunlight, medicine, and a healthy diet, his wife said doctors had told them. These are not available in adequate amounts to inmates at Scorpion Prison and many other Egyptian detention facilities.

A Human Rights Watch report on Scorpion Prison, published in 2016, documented cruel and inhuman treatment by officers of the Interior Ministry’s Prisons Authority that probably amounted to torture, including preventing food and medicine deliveries and other interference in medical care that may have contributed to prisoners’ deaths.

Hisham Gaafar sits on his bed in detention. His health has rapidly worsened while in detention, including marked weight loss, deteriorating eyesight, and a chronic prostate condition.

Gaafar’s wife said he appeared weak and to have lost significant weight during her March 2017 visit. She said she saw bite marks all over his body, which he said were from insects that had infested his cell due to a sewage leak. He told her he had suffered pain for weeks because he was sleeping on the concrete floor without a mattress. Human Rights Watch previously documented that Scorpion Prison authorities deny inmates a wide variety of basic necessities for hygiene and comfort, including beds, pillows, and mattresses.

In late February 2016, after a public outcry and growing criticism from the Journalists’ Syndicate, human rights organizations, and public figures, the authorities transferred Gaafar to the Tora Prison Hospital after he began suffering from urinary retention – the inability to fully empty his bladder. Prison authorities then transferred him to al-Manial University Hospital, which is affiliated with Cairo University. Doctors who examined him there on March 4, and again on March 10, 2016, asked prison officials to allow him to be kept at Cairo University hospitals to prepare for more tests, including diagnostic surgery on his enlarged prostate, the apparent cause of the urinary retention.

Gaafar spent five months at the prisoners’ ward at Qasr al-Aini Hospital, where ill inmates who are hospitalized are usually held, but the authorities repeatedly failed to give Gaafar timely permission to go for needed tests. Human Rights Watch has previously documentedthat prison authorities pressure hospitals not to admit inmates or to return them without necessary treatment.

Gaafar told his wife that he received very little medical care there. In August 2016, the authorities sent Gaafar back to Scorpion Prison before he had undergone the examinations that he was told he needed. Prison authorities and Cairo University hospitals have not allowed Gaafar’s family to read or obtain a copy of the medical reports issued during his detention, his wife said.

The family managed to obtain the hospital discharge report through unofficial means, however, and provided a copy to Human Rights Watch. The report contained no detailed information on any tests Gaafar may have undergone or treatment received but stated that he suffers from “mild prostate enlargement that needed no surgery.” The report did not state what caused the enlargement or whether it was benign or cancerous – a primary concern for the family.

A couple of days after returning to prison, Gaafar found blood in his urine, and officers transferred him again to Tora Prison Hospital. But the facilities there lack a urology specialist, his wife said, and the prison authorities have refused to arrange for Gaafar to be seen by one. He appeared before a court in August 2016 carrying a urinary catheter, his lawyers said.

His wife said that after filing several complaints, a National Security officer visited Gaafar in detention in November 2016, and told him, “don’t worry, we will treat you.” But Gaafar’s request to seek treatment in a private health facility was ignored.

One of his lawyers and his wife both told Human Rights Watch that prosecutors never allowed them to obtain a copy of the official charges against him or the rest of his case file. However, Hossam al-Sayed, another Mada Foundation journalist who was arrested with Gaafar on the same day, was released without bail in March 2016, said the lawyer Karim Abd al-Rady.

Under an amendment to the penal code decreed by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in September 2014, Gaafar could face a 25-year sentence if convicted of receiving foreign funds illegally.

Prisoners have the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health guaranteed in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which Egypt ratified in 1982.

The Committee Against Torture, the monitoring body of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment – ratified by Egypt in 1986 – has found that failure to provide adequate medical care can violate the treaty’s prohibition of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.

“It is deeply concerning that Egypt’s judiciary has become complicit in human rights violations by cruelly detaining people like Gaafar for years without justification, exposing them to serious abuse and harm,” Whitson said.

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
rayhanania
rayhanania
Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster at The Arab Daily News
RAY HANANIA — Op-Ed writer, author, radio host, podcaster

Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.

Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).

Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.

Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.

His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.

Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.

Click here to send Ray Hanania email.

Follow RayHanania on Gettr.com, the uncensored Twitter Ray Hanania on Gettr, the new Twitter
rayhanania
Latest posts by rayhanania (see all)
  • Israeli-push behind effort to ban Tiktok in the United States - January 19, 2023
  • Arab Democrats host forum for Chicago and suburban candidates Feb. 12 - January 18, 2023
  • CAIR Announces Dr. Manal Fakhoury as New Board Chair, New Board Members Spojmie Nasiri and John Floyd - January 12, 2023

  • Tweet

SHARE ...
          
 
  
 
          
 
 Tweet 
Arab World, Middle East, News, News Media, North Africa, Press Releases Tags:Arab World, detention, Egypt, Hisham Gaafar, journalist, Middle East, news media, prison

Post navigation

Previous Post: Alhurra.com opens the door for independent voices in the Middle East
Next Post: International Criminal Court issues warrant for Libyan leader

Related Posts

  • Wikipedia Censors Mordechai Vanunu and “The Samson Option” May Provide an Explanation American Arabs
  • Pintak launches new program on Soundcloud Activism
  • Gaza Fights for Freedom Documentary Cover
    Video: ‘Gaza Fights for Freedom’: An antidote to Israel’s criminal propaganda  Arab World
  • Canada Coptic Orthodox welcome His Grace Bishop Eklemandos American Arabs
  • Israeli Arab Knesset member Yousef Jabareen. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
    Israel bans Arab member from U.S. lecture tour Arab World
  • Aziz Shihab, long time Arab American journalist and author.
    A memorial to a great Arab American Journalist, Aziz Shihab American Arabs

More Related Articles

Congresswoman Betty McCollum of Minnesota McCollum introduces bill to protect Palestinian children American Arabs
ADC Stands with Ihlam Omar ADC Stands With Congresswoman Ilhan Omar!  American Arabs
USS LIBERTY Spook Exposes Liberty Injustices Arab World
Podcast: Interview with Hebah Fisher of Kerning Cultures American Arabs
The USS Liberty and Moral Uprisings Arab World
Eyewitness in Jerusalem: Escalation of Occupation Arab World

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

  • OPINION COLUMNS
  • Tiktok.com/@RayHanania
    Israeli-push behind effort to ban Tiktok in the United States
    January 19, 2023
  • Ghassan Rubeiz
    To what extent is Hezbollah responsible for the current crisis in Lebanon?
    January 17, 2023
  • Image from Rashid-al-Din Hamadani's "A Compendium of Chronicles. Image courtesy of Wikipedia
    Why allow religious extremists to re-define Islam in the West?
    January 10, 2023
  • CAIR Executive Director and co-founder Nihad Awad
    This Thanksgiving, let’s use our Blessings for good
    November 23, 2022
  • NEWS
  • Arab Democratic Club Feb 12, 2023 Forum & Brunch flier
    Arab Democrats host forum for Chicago and suburban candidates Feb. 12
    January 18, 2023
  • The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced Dr. Manal Fakhoury has been elected to the position of Chair of the National Board of Directors, and that attorneys Spojmie Nasiri of California and John Floyd of Texas have joined the organization’s National Board.
    CAIR Announces Dr. Manal Fakhoury as New Board Chair, New Board Members Spojmie Nasiri and John Floyd
    January 12, 2023
  • AHRC Executive Director Imad Hamad
    AHRC: Honor Dr. King Day with Civility, Unity, and Action
    January 11, 2023
  • Citgo Gas Station and Quik Mart at 3759 W. Chicago Ave in Chicago ordered closed by Mayor Lori Lightfoot because a street gang member with an AK-47 killed someone in front of the store. Only Arab and Muslim stores are being closed by the Mayor
    When Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot targeted Arab businesses in 2021 and 2022
    January 4, 2023
  • NEWSWIRE
  • Arab Democratic Club Feb 12, 2023 Forum & Brunch flier
    Arab Democrats host forum for Chicago and suburban candidates Feb. 12
    January 18, 2023
  • The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) announced Dr. Manal Fakhoury has been elected to the position of Chair of the National Board of Directors, and that attorneys Spojmie Nasiri of California and John Floyd of Texas have joined the organization’s National Board.
    CAIR Announces Dr. Manal Fakhoury as New Board Chair, New Board Members Spojmie Nasiri and John Floyd
    January 12, 2023
  • AHRC Executive Director Imad Hamad
    AHRC: Honor Dr. King Day with Civility, Unity, and Action
    January 11, 2023
  • Stand up For Human Rights website, United Nations
    UN experts condemn Israel’s ‘sadistic’ punitive measures against French-Palestinian rights defender Salah Hammouri
    October 19, 2022

Creative Commons License
All work on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Do not edit original work. Give credit to the original source.

  • 08-09-21-Ziyad-Sices-Ad.jpg
  • 08-09-21-Ziyad-Ad-Pantry-essentials.jpg
  • ZiyadBrandLogo-2016BlackRedBackgrnd.jpg
  • BOOK REVIEWS
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    October 24, 2022
  • Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib, book cover. Photo courtesy of Cune Press
    Stories My Father Told Me by author and artist Helen Zughaib
    November 1, 2021
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • Hussam al-Mayman, The Mayman Show, podcast Arab News
    Arab News launches third season of The Mayman Show podcast
    December 15, 2022
  • Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    Interlink 2022 Cookbooks Make the Best Holiday Gifts
    October 24, 2022
  • Comedian Ramy Youssef courtesy of his Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ramysfaceboo/
    “Ramy” cable series melds Arab world reality with every day American life
    October 22, 2022
  • The Ray Hanania Radio Show Live Wed 5 PM EST in Detroit, Washington DC, Ontario and on Thursday in Chicago. Watch the program live at Facebook.com/ArabNews
    Second Season of “The Ray Hanania Show” Arab American radio launches April 6
    April 4, 2022
  • American Arab CHamber President HassanNijem accepts the Proclamation from Chicago Ald. Roderick Sawyer at the Chamber dinner March 30, 2022
    Chicagoland celebrates Arab American Heritage Month
    March 31, 2022
  • New-iTunes-1400-x-1400-The-Ray-Hanania-Show-Podcast-Icon-300-x-300.jpg
  • Podcast-iTunes-Logo-Chi-City-Hall-1985.jpg
  • terroristbookcover-300-x-300.jpg
  • The-Kings-Pawn-Book-300-x-300.png
  • powerpr300x300ad.jpg
Arab News Newspaper Logo
Read the Arab News, the leading English language newspaper in the MIddle East

Follow Ray Hanania at Gab.com, MeWe.com and IDobbinate.com, the alternatives to Facebook and Twitter Censorship.

Click here to get information on The Ray Hanania Radio Show and its podcasts

Copyright © 2023 The Arab Daily News.

Powered by PressBook Premium theme