Labor and Palestine solidarity activist Shady Mohamed, who is in pretrial detention over the “Palestine solidarity banner” case, is facing severe health problems after suffering an acute injury to his left shoulder in prison.
Shady’s family says the prison administration has delayed providing him with necessary medical care.
He, alongside five others, has spent two years and three months in pretrial detention in Case No. 1644 of 2024 (Supreme State Security Prosecution), exceeding the legal maximum for pretrial detention. The case stems from their activity in support of the Palestinian cause during the Israel’s ongoing genocide on the Gaza Strip.
His wife, Salwa Rashid, told Al Manassa that her husband began suffering pain in his left shoulder three months ago, and that his condition gradually worsened until his arm stopped moving altogether.
“The last visit was two days ago. He was walking tilted to one side and his shoulder was hanging down. When he saw us, he tried to steady himself, but he couldn’t,” she said.
Salwa said prison doctors, along with doctors detained with him, suspect he has a torn shoulder tendon, which requires an MRI scan to determine the necessary treatment and whether surgery is needed. Despite promises from the prison’s investigations department to transfer him for the scans, this has not happened.
“When I visited him on June 3, he told me he might need surgery if the MRI confirmed a torn shoulder tendon, as the doctors suspect. But the scan still had not been scheduled,” she said.
“As I was leaving, I went to the investigations officer and asked him about the MRI appointment. He told me they had sent someone to book it. I told him I would be visiting again on June 17 and asked whether the scan would be done by then. He said, ‘God willing.’ But when I went for the visit on June 17, I found that he still had not had anything done.”
On the legal front, Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) lawyer Islam Salama submitted a request to the Supreme State Security Prosecution on June 21 to expedite the scan, but nothing happened, prompting Salama to submit a new request on Sunday, according to Salwa.
Salwa criticized what she described as a lack of support and attention to her husband’s case from some political opposition figures concerned with prisoners of conscience.
She said none of them had contacted the family to ask about his condition, despite her posting several times on Facebook and the case being covered by news websites. “Do we have to go knock on your doors and say, ‘Help us’?” she said.
The Alexandria branch of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party said in a Facebook statement that it was deeply concerned about Shady Mohamed’s health, warning of the consequences of his detention exceeding the legal maximum for pretrial detention and holding authorities fully responsible for his safety and life.
The party called for his immediate release, along with his colleagues, and for him to be urgently allowed to undergo medical tests.
The case dates back to April 29, 2024, when security forces arrested Shady Mohamed outside his home in Alexandria, one day after five other young men were arrested for hanging a banner in solidarity with Palestine on a bridge.
Although the Supreme State Security Prosecution has, since October 2025, released defendants in similar cases, including the case of the Sumud Flotilla activists, Shady and his colleagues remain in detention.
Shady Mohamed began a full hunger strike on Jan. 29, 2025, which lasted more than four weeks, in protest against his arbitrary transfer from 10th of Ramadan 6 Prison to Borg El-Arab Prison and the confiscation of his belongings. He ended the strike after his treatment improved following a broad solidarity campaign.
Shady Mohamed is a union leader in the Independent Union of Workers at the Linen Group furniture and textiles company in the Amreya Free Zone. He was arbitrarily dismissed in 2019 for participating in labor protests demanding better wages, and he is a founding member of the Permanent Conference of Alexandria Workers.
