Al-Jazeera journalist Abdullah El-Shamy (Photo released by Abdullah El-Shamy's family)
Imprisoned Al Jazeera journalist Abdullah El-Shamy is in good health and is not jailed for political reasons, Omar Marawan, president of the 30 June fact-finding committee commissioned by Egypt's outgoing interim president, said in a press conference Thursday.
El-Shamy has been on hunger strike since January. He is protesting his continued detention without being referred to trial. El-Shamy has lost a third of his original weight, apparent in a video leaked from prison where he said he holds the Egyptian judiciary responsible for any harm that befalls him.
The fact-finding committee had visited El-Shamy in his jail on Wednesday.
Marawan said medical examinations revealed El-Shamy's bodily functions are normal. He claimed that El-Shamy had signed a police report confirming he ended the hunger strike. Marawan also said the committee found cake inside El-Shamy's prison cell.
He said El-Shamy told the committee he was not abused during his stay in prison, but was treated with violence while being arrested.
In contrast, El-Shamy's family had said last week his health has deteriorated and he was in danger of losing his liver function during a period they were not allowed to see him for over two weeks.
Two weeks ago, photos of El-Shamy eating were leaked via social media.
In a press conference on Monday, the family of the Al Jazeera correspondent accused the interior ministry of forcing him to eat against his will.
The general prosecutor allowed El-Shamy's family to visit him Wednesday. In a statement released by the family, they said he was refused his right to physical exercise out of his cell over long periods of time, and his only cell window had been blocked to increase his isolation from other prisoners.
El-Shamy was arrested while covering the violent dispersal of the pro-Mohamed Morsi protest camp held in Cairo's Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square last August. He is accused, along with more than 300 others, of many charges including terrorising citizens and attempted murder.
Interim President Adly Mansour formed the fact-finding committee in December to investigate violent events following the 30 June protests that led to the ouster of Morsi.
Short link: