Village celebrates return of HIV-free Reham

September 4, 2013

Jeddah, Sep 4: Thirteen-year-old Reham Al-Hekami, the victim of an HIV-contaminated blood transfusion at Jazan Public Hospital, returned to her hometown in the southern region on Monday after receiving intensive treatment at King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh.

Mazhara village celebrated her arrival with a large number of people, including friends and relatives, present at King Abdullah Airport in Jazan to receive her. Blood tests at reputable international laboratories have proven that she is now HIV-free, hospital sources said.

“We are extremely happy that Reham has returned to her family and friends in good health,” said Abdullah Al-Suwaid, deputy governor of Jazan, who was present at the airport to receive her.

He said Jazan Gov. Prince Mohammed bin Nasser has ordered that Reham’s family be given a house. “The governor has followed the case of Reham from the beginning,” he said.

Speaking to reporters on her arrival in Jazan, Reham said she was happy to have recovered so quickly and was looking forward to seeing her school friends. She thanked all those who prayed for her good health.

“Reham is now in good health and is in high spirits,” said her uncle Ali Al-Hekami. He thanked the government and King Faisal Hospital for the good care extended to his niece.

Reham became popular after national and international media highlighted her case.

The Ministry of Health had fired a number of officials at Jazan Public Hospital, including the hospital’s director general, medical director and laboratory and blood bank manager. The latter was also fined SR10,000.

The ministry had described the incident as a “huge mistake” and apologized to “the girl, her parents, family and Saudi society” for the pain inflicted on the girl.

People across the Kingdom expressed their happiness at the safe return of Reham from hospital. “Thank God for your safety. Mazhara village welcomes you and may God protect you from all evil,” said Abdullah Ibrahim Jahfali.

While congratulating Reham and her family, Ahmed Shehry, a Saudi, urged the government to take strict measures to end medical errors and urged hospitals and doctors to do their best to save lives. “Enough is enough for medical errors in the Kingdom,” he said.

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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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