Egypt sentences ex-doctor to prison over hospital abuse claims

CAIRO: An Egyptian court on Saturday handed a suspended six-month prison term to a former doctor convicted of spreading false information on social media alleging abuse of women at a university hospital, her lawyers said.

Omnia Swaydan was convicted over a Facebook post describing what she said were cases of abuse at Al-Shatby University Hospital in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, where she trained in 2020, according to her lawyers Khaled Ali and Mohamed Ramadan.

The court sentenced her to six months in jail but suspended the term for three years and fined her 20,000 Egyptian pounds (US$408), Ali told AFP.

Swaydan was found guilty of spreading false information that could “disturb public order, spread fear among the public and cause harm”, as well as of using a social media account to commit the offence, Ali said.

She was, however, acquitted of a separate charge of “violating family values” stemming from her comments regarding hospital staff, he added.

She can still appeal the verdict.

Swaydan, who now works in the film industry, was arrested last month at her home in the Nile Delta province of Beheira and questioned over allegations of spreading false news and misusing social media.

She was later released on bail before prosecutors referred the case to a criminal court.

According to the prosecutors, Swaydan told investigators that some of the incidents described in her post were procedures she witnessed during training, but because of her “limited experience” she believed they were outside accepted medical practice.

The prosecutors also said she acknowledged that some allegations came from unidentified sources and had not been independently verified.

In the post, Swaydan alleged widespread abuse at the hospital, claiming a doctor sexually assaulted a woman in labour and later mocked her, while another patient was allegedly slapped and verbally abused during childbirth.

She also claimed that vulnerable patients, including a sexual assault survivor and a critically ill pregnant woman unable to prove she was married, were denied treatment.

Alexandria University, which runs the hospital, said it would investigate the allegations, while the Egyptian Medical Syndicate said it had received no formal complaints and urged anyone with evidence to come forward through official channels.

Following Swaydan’s post, several women shared accounts on social media describing similar experiences at Al-Shatby and other public hospitals across Egypt.

AFP was unable to independently verify the allegations.