CAIRO: Thursday marked the 36th day of blogger Michael Nabil Sanad's hunger strike for what he and his family say is the “ill-treatment” he receives in prison and for being ignored by the recent pardons that were issued by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). Nabil was arrested last summer over a blog post he wrote in which he criticized the SCAF and went through a swift military trial, where he was sentenced to three years in prison. He has spent 5 months behind bars already. Nabil's health has deteriorated greatly in recent weeks, but refuses to end his strike. Activists and family members said he has lost a great deal of weight and caught scabies in prison. It was reported that the prison authority had confiscated his heart medication, which adds even more threats to his life. Nabil's case also suffers neglect from the activist community, who stopped campaigning for him over his views on Israel. Nabil's pro-normalization views cost him valuable support from activists and rights groups, who are being criticized for their passive position on Nabil's case. Nabil is the first prisoner of consciousness following the January 25 uprising that toppled the 30-year rule of ousted president Hosni Mubarak. BM
