Saudi: Health Minister draws action plan to defeat MERS

April 23, 2014

Riyadh, Apr 23: Over 20 experts from abroad are scheduled to arrive in the Kingdom shortly to join discussions on how to contain the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus, said Labor Minister and Acting Health Minister Adel Fakeih on Tuesday.

“We will contact medical experts in the US, Europe and Asia and take advantage of their knowledge and expertise,” Fakeih told reporters after following up on the MERS situation at King Fahd Hospital in Jeddah merely a day after being appointed acting health minister.

He said a special committee has been set up to monitor and follow up on MERS situation in the Kingdom.

The panel, he said, is tasked with analyzing laboratory reports and contacting global pharmaceutical companies and health experts to produce anti-coronavirus vaccinations.

The minister held a meeting with top officials and experts following his visit to the hospital, which was attended by high-ranking officials from the Health Ministry and directors of emergency wards at Jeddah’s public hospitals.

“The ministry will coordinate with health care experts both inside and outside the Kingdom to analyze information and determine the potential risks arising from the epidemic,” said Fakeih.

He said the ministry would provide logistical support to hospitals to deal with the virus.

He promised that he would address the media in full transparency and provide them with comprehensive information about the disease. “We will announce additional measures taken to contain the coronavirus.”

The MERS death toll has climbed to 81 in Saudi Arabia.

A 73-year-old Saudi who suffered from chronic illnesses died in Riyadh and a compatriot diagnosed with the virus, aged 54, died in Jeddah, the ministry said late on Monday.

Meanwhile, Greece has recorded its first case of the potentially fatal respiratory disease, and the patient is in critical condition.

The Health Ministry says the 69-year-old Greek national fell sick in Saudi Arabia, where he lives.

Jordan’s Health Ministry has reported an additional laboratory-confirmed MERS case. A ministry official told Petra that the patient is a 25-year-old Saudi who was hospitalized in Saudi Arabia from April 10 to 15 after suffering from pneumonia. He is stable at a private hospital in Amman.

The virus doesn’t spread easily between people, and no cases have been observed related to crowds, in schools or at football stadiums.

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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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