The Al-Shehab Human Rights Center is closely monitoring the detention conditions of Dr. Essam Hashish (71 years old), a professor of communication engineering at Cairo University and one of the most prominent Egyptian academics in the field of communication systems and microwaves, who faces a real threat to his life inside his prison due to deliberate medical neglect.
Dr. Essam Hashish graduated from the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University in 1973, ranking among the top students in the national secondary school exams. He obtained his PhD in 1985 after a forced delay due to his first arrest, followed by a master's degree in 1987. He worked as a professor of wave theory in the Department of Electronics and Communications at Cairo University.
Throughout his academic career, he supervised more than 45 master's and doctoral theses both in Egypt and abroad, published over 50 scientific papers in specialized local and international journals, and participated in important research and engineering projects, including a project for discovering minerals and groundwater using electromagnetic probing, as well as research on the biological effects of mobile phone radiation and the design of satellite antennas.
He also held prominent academic and scientific positions, including Deputy Director of the Global Technology Center at Cairo University, President of the Microwave Division of the IEEE in Egypt, and a member of the Supreme Council of the Engineers Syndicate. He received the university's encouragement award in 2004 and was named the ideal professor at Cairo University in 2005.
On October 12, 2013, he was arrested from his home in Giza Governorate, and since then he has been detained in Egyptian prisons, moving between Scorpion Prison and Badr 3 Prison, under harsh and inhumane detention conditions.
Dr. Essam Hashish suffers from severe deterioration of heart valves, chronic heart dysfunction, and chronic high blood pressure, and he requires precise medical follow-up and regular treatment that is not available in his detention. In 2022, amid rising concerns for his life, he requested the prison administration to allow him to purchase a shroud at his own expense in anticipation of his death in custody.
In October 2024, he suffered a severe heart attack and was transferred late to Leman Hospital, before being returned to prison without completing treatment or undergoing regular medical follow-up, which poses a direct and ongoing risk to his life.
The Al-Shehab Human Rights Center affirms that the continued detention of Dr. Essam Hashish under these conditions constitutes a grave violation of the right to life and health care, and holds the Egyptian authorities fully responsible for any health deterioration that may occur.
The center demands:
The immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Essam Hashish
The provision of urgent and specialized medical care for him
The cessation of the policy of medical neglect towards political detainees, especially the elderly and those with chronic illnesses
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