Egypt Watch

The family demands to transfer Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh to a hospital

The family of former presidential candidates and head of the Strong Egypt Party, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, said they had requested the Ministry of Interior, the Public Prosecutor, and the National Council for Human Rights to transfer Aboul Fotouh to the Tora Prison Hospital due to his poor health condition.

The family’s lawyer, Khaled Ali, said Aboul Fotouh’s family was on a visit to him when they were shocked by his poor health. Ali added that if most of the opposition figures in the National Dialogue initiative ignore Aboul Fotouh’s right to freedom, they should at least demand he be admitted to a hospital.

On Monday, Hudhayfa Aboul Fotouh said that his father had a health crisis in his detention in Tora Prison. “I just came back from the Tora Prison… My father suffered a health crisis due to poor weather. I was not given any information about the severity of the crisis or his current condition,” he said.

Aboul Fotouh, 71, has had health problems while in solitary confinement. He had a major heart attack in April after being attacked by two prison guards and a group of soldiers. In July 2021, he also experienced a severe heart attack that human rights sources deemed “fatal.” He attempted to get aid for hours all night, but no one answered.

In January, UN experts expressed grave concern about his health, detention conditions, and the lack of adequate medical care. Aboul Fotouh suffers from regular angina attacks that require urgent examination and close monitoring in an appropriate medical setting. He also suffers from advanced prostate disease, in addition to other conditions.

Aboul Fotouh was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2018, after spending four years of pretrial detention in a solitary cell, and was tried before one of the worst special courts in the country, according to rights groups.