Court to decide on detention renewal of Esraa El-Taweel pending medical report

El-Taweel's health condition has been deteriorating during the 135 days she spent in prison, as she has not been receiving treatment, says El-Taweel's mother

By Nourhan Fahmy
The State Security Prosecution decided Monday to have El-Taweel's medical condition examined by the prison hospital and a report will be presented to it the following day in order to decide on detention renewal.
El-Taweel's health condition has been deteriorating during the 135 days she spent in prison, as she has not been receiving treatment, since the start of her detention, said El-Taweel's mother Hanaa Ali.
The "Where is Esraa El-Taweel" campaign published on its Facebook page medical reports with details of El-Taweel's current health condition on Monday. The most recent report dated 22 August warned of her suffering a relapse given she does not receive treatment.
El-Taweel's sister and lawyers asserted that Esraa suffers from an injury in her leg and requires physiotherapy.
During the second anniversary of the 25 January Revolution in 2014, El-Taweel was struck by a bullet hitting her leg and spine while taking photos during a protest. She was bedridden for five months and used a wheelchair for six months. Through physiotherapy, she had made some progress and began to use a crutch, according to family members.
However, while in prison, El-Taweel was diagnosed with a "permanent disability" by the prison doctor and was not given physiotherapy.
In her second letter from jail, El-Taweel called for her "immediate release with the continuance of the prosecutor's investigations", and recorded her daily difficulties inside prison.
The 23- year-old photojournalist, who had disappeared on 1 June and appeared in Al-Qanater women's prison two weeks later, spoke in her letter of being blindfolded and interrogated for 15 days during the period in which she had been forcibly disappeared.
Charges leveled against El-Taweel include belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and spreading false news through her social media account.
El-Taweel's case is prominent among a wave of disappearances that has seen numerous individuals, with connections to revolutionary or Islamist politics, taken illegally by security forces.
A Ministry of Interior spokesperson previously denied that the police forcibly takes individuals in this manner, also telling Daily News Egypt that Egypt's police forces are currently not targeting young people, regardless of their political stances and positions, a claim that activists refute.