Due to the Egyptian authorities’ procrastination in allowing a required surgery to save the life of Journalist Hesham Gaafar, the Egyptian-Journalists-Campaign has launched an initiative to consider Tuesday, Sept. 19 as a blogging day to write about Hesham Gaafar who has been detained for about a year, as part of a campaign titled:”Blog for me” to blog about the Egyptian journalists who are detained in Egypt’s prisons, according to Arab Media Freedom Monitor.
Hesham Gaafar, the director of Mada Foundation for Media Development and a Press Syndicate member, has been detained for nearly a year in the notorious Torah prison, known as the “Scorpion Cemetery “. The Hashtag of the campaign was #freeheshamgafr and #FreeEgyptMedia.
Gaafar’s family called his fans and students to blog about their colleague, who has recently been transferred to Torah Prison Hospital after the deterioration of his health status. Gaafar suffers from urinary retention and blood-related problems as a result of his swelling of the prostate, and is about to lose his eyesight due to the Egyptian authorities’ delay in allowing the required surgery to save him.
The writer and political researcher, Gaafar was one of the thirty prisoners mentioned in a report released by El Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence’s monthly report in August. According to the report, “Thirty prisoners are in poor health and their previous medical conditions have worsened, while 76 others are subject to torture and ill-treatment.”
The report focused on human rights violations in detention, especially cases of medical negligence in prison as this major violation occurred frequently in August. The report recorded 99 Egyptians killed by police or armed forces, while 10 died in police stations or prisons.
Specific examples of medical negligence cited in the report included Ibrahim Salem Hashish, who died due to cancer of the kidneys at Al-Azhar hospital in Damietta. Also cited was Hesham Gaafar who” was in a strong need to undergo prostate surgery”, said the report.
