Fakeih visits more hospitals as WHO reviews Saudi data

May 11, 2014

Jeddah/Riyadh, May 11: The Ministry of Health has issued an advisory stating that face masks should be worn by patients who have been diagnosed with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), as well as people who come into regular contact with patients, such as family members and medical staff.

The advisory, issued via SMS to residents, followed a meeting held between local and international experts in Riyadh about the virus, which killed another six people on Saturday and infected seven others, the ministry announced.

Six other MERS patients reportedly recovered the same day.

The deaths were reported in Jeddah, Riyadh and Madinah, while new cases have been diagnosed in Riyadh, Jeddah and Makkah.

Acting Health Minister Adel Fakeih, meanwhile, called on coronavirus patients in Madinah’s hospitals.

Keiji Fukuda, assistant director-general for health security at the World Health Organization (WHO), said team members, who had just returned from the Kingdom, were still sorting through the data shared by the Saudi Health Ministry.

According to reports in foreign media, Fukuda called for the need to test not just sick people, but seemingly healthy individuals, for the MERS infection.

He said the sweeping surge in MERS cases over the past five weeks appears to be due, in large part, to problems with infection control mechanisms at some of the Kingdom’s hospitals.

Fukuda said Saudi officials cooperated fully with the WHO team during their visit.

Sami Badawood, Jeddah Health Affairs director, said the ministry is doing its best to spread awareness about the coronavirus.

Badawood said: “Though a cure has yet to be found for MERS, recovery rates are improving. Around 30 percent of patients have been fully cured from the disease.”

“Spreading awareness about the do’s and dont’s involved in fighting this virus is of utmost importance,” he said. “Taking correct precautionary measures is important and the Health Ministry is using every media channel to spread awareness among members of the public.”

He said: “Even on the community level, doctors are visiting schools and advising children on how to avoid catching the virus.”

MERS symptoms include fever, coughing, shortness of breath, nose and throat congestion and, in some cases, diarrhea.

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UN condemns Israeli regime’s ‘organized torture’ against Palestinians

News Network

November 30,2025

The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) has condemned the Israeli regime for enforcing a policy of “organized torture” against Palestinians.

In a report published on Friday, CAT stated that the occupying regime enforces a deliberate policy of “organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” against Palestinian abductees, particularly since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza.

The committee expressed “deep concern over repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, water-boarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence” inflicted on Palestinians.

Palestinian prisoners were degraded by “being made to act like animals or being urinated on,” systematically denied medical care, and subjected to excessive restraints, “in some cases resulting in amputation,” the report added.

CAT also condemned the routine application of “unlawful combatants law” to justify the prolonged detention without trial of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children.

More than 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to Palestinian and international human rights groups, with 3,474 Palestinians in “administrative detention,” meaning they are imprisoned without trial for indefinite periods.

The report highlighted the “high proportion of children who are currently detained without charge or on remand,” noting that while Israel sets the age of criminal responsibility at 12, even younger children have been abducted.

Children designated as security prisoners face severe restrictions on family contact, may be subjected to solitary confinement, and are denied access to education, in clear violation of international law.

The committee further suggested that Israel’s policies across the Occupied Territories constitute collective torture against the Palestinian population.

“A range of policies adopted by Israel in the course of its continued unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading living conditions for the Palestinian population,” the report said.

On Thursday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas condemned the systematic killing and torture of Palestinian abductees in Israeli prisons, urging international action to halt these abuses.

Citing human rights data, Hamas stated that 94 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli prisons since the start of Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“This reflects an organized criminal approach that has turned these prisons into direct killing grounds to eliminate our people,” the resistance movement said.

Hamas called on the international community, the UN, and human rights organizations to immediately pressure Israel to end crimes against prisoners and uphold their rights as guaranteed by all international conventions and norms.

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