Judge rejects appeal by rights groups to release Mohamed Soltan

During Wednesday’s session at Cairo Criminal Court, presiding Judge Mohamed Nagy Shehata refused an appeal by 12 rights groups for the immediate release of political detainee and hunger striker Mohamed Soltan.

The dual Egyptian-American citizen, Soltan, is said to be Egypt’s longest hunger-striking prisoner. He has been locked up for the past 437 days and on hunger strike for 238 of them.

Soltan’s medical condition is reportedly very worrisome and potentially life threatening. Over the past week, he is reported to have slipped in and out of comas due to his critically low blood glucose levels.

The Nadim Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence issued a statement on their Facebook page on Wednesday underlining the urgency of Soltan’s medical condition. As Soltan is unwilling to call off his strike, physicians claim that he may be on the verge of death if he is not released soon.

The Nadim Center reports that Soltan commenced his hunger strike on January 26, and his health has been gradually deteriorating ever since.

Medical details released by the center indicate Soltan has lost over a third of his original body weight and is suffering from several health complications, including the life-threatening systemic lupus erythematosus, a serious autoimmune disease.

He is reportedly facing further threat to his life if he suffers from a fourth pulmonary embolism — a blockage of the pulmonary artery leading from the heart to the lungs.

Soltan, who is the son of leading Muslim Brotherhood figure Salah Soltan, is standing trial before Cairo Criminal Court along with 50 other defendants in the case known as the “Rabea Operation Room.”

The defendants, including the Muslim Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, have had charges levied against them that include instigating organized acts of violence from the Rabea protest camp supporting ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in the eastern Cairo district of Nasr City in 2013.

On Wednesday, Judge Shehata adjorned the case until November 16. Soltan’s defense lawyers informed local media outlets that their client was unable to attend Wednesday’s court hearing in light of his critical health condition.

Shehata is the same judge who sentenced three Al Jazeera staff members to between seven and ten years in prison on June 23 for aiding the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

In the judicial account of the trial, issued in July, Shehata wrote: “The devil encouraged them to use journalism and direct it towards actions against this nation.”

Shehata has been described as the “judge of retribution” by privately owned Al-Watan Newspaper, while other media outlets have jokingly referred to him as the “superman of judges,” entrusted with several cases pertaining to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The 12 organizations and civil society groups that filed the appeal for Soltan’s release on medical grounds include: The Nadim Center, the Liberties Committee of the Doctors Syndicate, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, the Nazra Center for Feminist Studies, the Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, Egyptians Against Religious Discrimination, the Hisham Mubarak Legal Center, and the Land Center for Human Rights.