A number of journalists gathered inside the Press Syndicate headquarters to express solidarity with journalist Mahmoud Al-Saqa, whose health is deteriorating in detention.
The journalists were holding signs reading #Al-Saqa_is_in_risk and #Press_is_not_crime. They further published their photo holding the banners on social media platforms. The head of the Freedoms Committee at the Press Syndicate, Khaled El-Balashy, also joined the journalists.
Al-Saqa has been vomiting blood (haematemesis) for at least 25 days, and has been held in a solitary cell for more than 85 days. The cell has no proper ventilation and lacks basic essentials for living, the syndicate clarified. Furthermore, the journalist was not given the rights stated in the prison regulations, according to a Doctors Syndicate grievance to the Interior Ministry.
The complaint was also sent to the National Council for Human Rights General Prosecutor Nabil Sadek and the head of Egypt’s prison authority.
The Doctors Syndicate complaint came following a compliant by Al-Saqa’s family, regarding their son’s deteriorating health condition.
Al-Saqa was arrested along with Yanair Gate’s editor-in-chief, Amr Badr, in May, for charges of inciting protests and attempting to topple the regime after they initiated a sit-in in front of the Press Syndicate in late April, protesting two security raids that were conducted at dawn at their private residences.
