CAIRO: Human rights activists are urging the Foreign Ministry to interfere in the case of an Egyptian doctor, sentenced to 15 years in prison and 1,500 lashes in Saudi Arabia for allegedly driving a patient to addiction. The seven-month-old verdict, now in the execution phase, has recently gained the attention of local activists. On Sunday a sit-in was organized in front of the Saudi Arabian embassy to protest the ruling. Raouf Amin, an Egyptian doctor who spent more than 20 years in Saudi Arabia, is accused of driving a patient to addiction. He was originally sentenced to seven years in prison and 750 lashes in late 2007. When the 53-year-old Amin appealed the verdict seven months ago, the sentence was doubled. It all began in 2001, when Amin headed a private hospital in Jeddah. One day, "someone who works for a high profile figure came to the hospital asking for someone to go with him to give the wife of his employer an injection, Ahmed, Amin's son, told Daily News Egypt. "When the hospital owner knew about this, he sent my father with a nurse to show this man that the hospital cares and so my father went. This high profile figure turned out to be a Saudi prince. His wife reportedly fell off a horse, which caused extensive damage to her spine. After surgeries conducted in the United States and the United Kingdom, Ahmed said, she was already addicted to painkillers "before my father started treating her. In no time, Dr Amin gained the family's trust and became their personal physician. "My father was following the addiction relief plan that specialists had designed for the wife, Ahmed added. "My father didn t even bring them the medicine; they already had it there. In 2007, Dr Amin decided to leave the family and go back to his personal practice in Saudi. According to Ahmed, the prince and his wife were "fine with [Amin's decision] and removed his kafala [guarantor system] with no hard feelings. They even willingly gave him his severance payment. When Amin wanted to travel back to Egypt to visit his ailing father, customs staff at the airport told him that his name was on their list of "wanted people and he was not permitted to leave Saudi Arabia. Ahmed, accompanied by his mother, met with his father in June 2007 at the police headquarters after the father was arrested. "They treated us in such an insolent way, we were sitting four meters away from the Saudi inspector's desk and had four people watching us as we spoke to him. We were told that it was not a big deal and that they are just waiting for a paper from Riyadh where he was arrested and he will be immediately released, Ahmed said. The Amin family later went to the Egyptian Embassy in Saudi and "they told us that they will inform the Egyptian foreign ministry and the Egyptian foreign ministry will inform the Saudi foreign ministry which will inform the Saudi interior ministry; it was a confusing circle, Ahmed said. After losing hope, Ahmed's grandmother contacted Naguib Gobraiel, a lawyer and president of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organization (EUHRO), asking him for help in bringing the case to the attention of the public. "We presented a report to the Saudi embassy explaining the unfairness of the ruling and asked for King Abdullah to interfere, Gobraiel told Daily News Egypt. The lawyer explained that Dr Amin was given a harsher sentence in the appeal due to the prince's influence. Amin's family met with Ambassador Ahmed Rizk, from the Egyptian foreign ministry, who assured them that their case would be looked after by the ministry. Ambassador Rizk was not available fore comment, when contacted by Daily News Egypt. Gobraiel threatened to take the case to international human rights organizations if the verdict is not reconsidered. The unfortunate news for Amin is that the sentence is already in the execution phase. According to Gobraiel, Amin received 70 lashes last Sunday and will receive another 70 next Sunday. "I spoke with him after the lashing and he is not in good shape, the lawyer said.
