(Photo courtesy of Facebook)
The court case for Mo’awad Adel was postponed to 10 December as the young man marks 24 months in a coma.
His family and supporters stood in a very small demonstration outside the State Council on Tuesday, where the case was being viewed before the Administrative Judiciary, demanding that the state continues to pay for Adel’s treatment.
Adel, a senior student studying Pharmacy, was assisting injured protesters at a field hospital on Mohamed Mahmoud Street in 2011 when he was shot in the head. His injuries left him in a coma. Sympathisers have dubbed him the “living martyr.”
Adel’s family had delegated the Egyptian Centre for Social and Economic Rights (ECESR) to file a law suit calling for the state to provide for Adel’s treatment abroad. Due to the severity of his condition, Adel could not be treated in Egypt and had to be taken to a hospital in the United Kingdom (UK) that works with coma cases like his.
A verdict was issued on 2 April binding the state to pay for Adel’s treatment and facilitate his travel arrangements. The court verdict stated that the National Council for Support of the Families of Martyrs and Victims will provide for the treatment and medical rehabilitation based on medical reports.
Yet two weeks after the court verdict was issued, Adel remained waiting for the implementation of the verdict in the New Al-Qasr Al-Eini Teaching Hospital. A statement by ECESR said he was taken to the UK on 15 July but after “legal pressure and pressure through protests on the street.”
Researcher at the (ECESR) Asmaa El-Geredly said the National Council for Support of the Families of Martyrs and Victims set a sum of £75,000 for Adel’s treatment, although the court “never set a maximum limit for the treatment.”
ECESR said in a statement that Adel’s health has “significantly improved.”
However, the sum of money for his treatment has been used up and he needs an additional £54,937. He should remain until 10 January to complete the treatment.
But he was met with another hurdle when the National Council for Support of the Families of Martyrs and Victims sent a letter to the medical adviser at the Egyptian Embassy telling them to end the treatment and return Adel and another Egyptian being treated in the UK, Mohamed Soleiman, a lawyer with ECESR who is handling the case, said.
The National Council for Support of the Families of Martyrs and Victims never returned a call for comment. But Soleiman said that the medical adviser responded with two letters on 17 and 28 October stating that Adel’s health is improving.
ECESR said it condemns the performance of the government towards those who were injured in protests. “Instead of honouring them and providing them with all the medical services they need for treatment in Egypt or abroad, they are left in pain.”
