Four more fall prey to MERS

May 4, 2014

Jeddah, May 4: Health authorities on Saturday reported 18 new infections from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus and raised the death toll to 111 in the kingdom, up from 107 on Friday.

In its latest MERS update on its website, however, the Ministry of Health mentioned only two new fatalities: a 69-year-old woman in Makkah, who was suffering from tuberculosis and anemia, and a 25-year-old man in Jeddah, who was admitted to a government hospital on April 27, 2014 after displaying respiratory symptoms.

The 18 confirmed cases reported on Saturday, the biggest daily increase in new infections so far, jacked up the total number of cases in the kingdom to 396 since September 2012 when the virus was discovered.

Of the new cases, seven were in Jeddah, five in Riyadh, four in Makkah and two in Madinah. Thirteen are currently in public hospitals and five were sent to home isolation, said the report.

Acting Health Minister Adel Fakeih had earlier said the MOH was currently focusing on a two-pronged approach to prevent and treat MERS and to offer the best health care services to the people in the Kingdom.

In a meeting on Wednesday with members of the National Scientific Committee for the Prevention of Infectious Diseases and officials from the ministries of interior, higher education, municipal affairs, National Guard, defense and private health sector executives, Fakeih urged officials to make more field visits to ensure proper health care during this period of crisis.

Fakeih said the officials should pay attention to the values of sincerity, honesty, and perseverance; perfection and transparency, and provide services with a sense of dedication, kindness and love.

He also urged officials to work as a team and ensure proper coordination with the concerned officials to give the best health care to the patients.

In July many foreign pilgrims are expected to visit Makkah and Madinah during Islam's fasting month of Ramadan. Millions more are expected in early October for the annual Haj.

On Friday the United States said it had discovered its first confirmed case of the disease in a man who had recently been in Saudi Arabia. Egypt said it discovered its first case, also in a man who had been in Saudi Arabia, on Thursday.

Infections of MERS in Saudi Arabia, where it was discovered two years ago, have more than doubled since the start of April, but the total number of deaths has increased at a slower rate.

A higher number of people without symptoms are also being found with the disease, suggesting that the rapid increase in recent weeks is partly due to wider testing of people who have been in close contact with MERS patients.

MERS, a form of coronavirus like the more deadly SARS, can cause fever, coughing, shortness of breath and pneumonia. However, it is not easy to transmit between people and the World Health Organisation has not advised any travel restrictions for Saudi Arabia.

Scientists say the most likely animal reservoir, from which new cases are becoming infected, is Saudi Arabia's population of camels.

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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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