Dr. Essam Al Haddad’s Health Deteriorates in Prison

Dr. Essam Al Haddad’s Health Deteriorates in Prison

Al Shehab Center for Human Rights, on its official page on Facebook, condemned the medical negligence and violations against Dr. Essam Al Haddad, Assistant to President Morsi for Foreign Affairs, currently in prison by military coup regime of Abdel Fattah al Sisi. The Center holds the prison administration, the prisons authority, and the coup authorities responsible for his safety.


The center published a distress message from Al Haddad’s wife, which stated that he was transferred to hospital prison last Wednesday. The coup authorities refused to let her or any of his family members know his current health status and refused to allow any food or necessary supplies.

She continued: "My husband has been denied visits for a year and a half and has been suffering a series of  heart attacks since October 15, 2016. He has not been offered a cardiac examination until now. However, hardly, and after a judge’s order, an nuclear stress test was performed for him, which has shown the need for cardiac catheterization and stents in September 2017 after a year of suffering.

Then, "he went on a full hunger strike last November and the judge twice ordered to perform the procedure quickly. They asked for a full payment in advance. That was two months ago and so far nothing has been performed and he has not even been seen by a cardiologist.

She confirmed that she did not know anything about the details of his health status even the level of his blood pressure in view of the prison authority’s refusal to furnish a report on his condition or allow him or his family to see the results of any tests conducted.

She added, in her letter, that she contacted a cardiologist but he refused to prescribe any medication for her husband because the only due treatment for him is catheterization as soon as possible. Otherwise, his status will deteriorate, especially under the circumstances of solitary confinement in Al ‘Aqrab prison where he did not see sunlight for over a year, beside the intense mental stress, visits banning, extreme humidity and cold in the jail cells.

She disclosed that medications that she used to send him through others were stolen by prison personnel sold to a nearby pharmacy.

She added: "They [in the prison] not only deprive detainees of any medical care, falsify medical test results, provide them with contaminated water and food, refuse to perform tests or emergency operations for critical cases, such as the case of my husband; but in addition  they steal necessary medicines for heart disease and hypertension!

At the end of her letter, she addressed the Minister of Interior in the coup government, saying: "Ministry of the Interior, Dr. Essam Haddad (65 years) is in dire need for catheterization for a year and a half," stressing that the postponement of the procedure is deliberate in the hope of further harming his health. And the fact that he was not seen by any cardiologist, despite having suffered four heart attacks in his solitary cell, means only an intent to kill him. You are responsible for the current deterioration in his condition.

She asked: Should he start a new hunger strike without food and medicine as he did 3 months ago so as to be allowed the catheterization procedure? She also pointed out that when torture, starvation and solitary confinement does not work as a political blackmail method, there is the death threat by preventing medical treatment and medications.