RIYADH • A leading Saudi reformist and his brother started to serve time behind bars yesterday after being convicted of inciting women's protests in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom.
Abdullah Al Hamed, a prominent Islamist reformist, and his brother Issa were sentenced last November to six and four months in jail respectively.
The sentences were upheld by an appeals court last month, but the two men were still free pending a decision on the rulings by the governor's office of Al Qassim region where their trial took place.
"The two brothers turned themselves in at 1.00 pm (1000 GMT) after they were summoned on Wednesday to serve the sentences," a family friend said.
"They handed themselves in at the Buraida prison," in Al Qassim, 320 kilometres north of the Saudi capital Riyadh, he added, requesting anonymity.
The charges against the Hamed brothers were linked to two sit-ins last summer by women in Al Qassim.
The women mounted the protests to demand their husbands or brothers, held on suspicion of involvement in a wave of violence unleashed by suspected Islamist militants in 2003, either receive a public trial or be released.
Public protests are banned in Saudi Arabia.
More than 40 Saudi human rights activists and reformists called earlier this month for the annulment of the "unfair ruling" against the Hamed brothers.
In November, New York-based Human Rights Watch slammed Saudi Arabia for jailing the two reformers, saying the judgement proved it was illegal to criticise the authorities in the kingdom.
Abdullah Al Hamed was one of three reformists who spent 17 months in jail for demanding a constitutional monarchy before being pardoned by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz immediately after he assumed the throne in August 2005.
-- AFP
Showing posts with label Qassim. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Qassim. Show all posts
Monday, March 10, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Saudi Arabia: Cancer Screening Targets 75,000 Qassim Women
JEDDAH — The Health Affairs Department in the Qassim Region has introduced a complete program for early detection of breast cancer. The program, staffed by women oncologists, pathologists and radiologists, targets 75,000 patients — aged 35 to 60 — in the region.
Dr. Mohammed Al-Habdan, executive director of the program, described the program, which began last year, as the first of its kind in the region. The Health Ministry is likely to expand the program to other regions after reviewing its success.
“There are five permanent centers and one mobile center in the program,” said Habdan. King Fahd Specialist Hospital in Buraidah, King Saud Hospital in Unaizah, and the general hospitals in Al-Rass Bakeriya and Mudnib are permanent centers, he explained.
He said the program required special budget allocations in order to carry out its mission in an efficient manner and expand its services to other areas. “Some centers in the program still lack necessary equipment and medical facilities,” he explained.
“So far we have been able to cover 14 percent of targeted women in the region,” he said.
“We are providing comprehensive medical services to the targeted group. Patients are diagnosed by a multi-disciplinary-team (MDT) after taking mammograms,” he added.
Mammograms are the most important tool doctors have to help them diagnose, evaluate and follow women who have had breast cancer.
Safe and highly accurate, a mammogram is an X-ray photograph of the breast. The technique has been in use for about 30 years.
Leading experts including the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society now recommend annual mammograms for women over 40. Detecting breast cancer early through mammography means many more women are being treated for breast cancer and are able to protect their breasts.
“Under this program we have so far been able to detect four cancer cases in the early stages. We also found some non-cancerous tumors in some women,” Habdan said. “In order to avoid possible mistakes, mammography images are checked by three experts,” he added.
Habdan emphasized the significance of the program in the wake of growing breast cancer cases among Saudi women as a result of both hereditary and environmental factors.
“We have a relatively young population and we recommend mammography for women aged 35 and 60 every 18 months,” he said.
A public awareness campaign was organized in the region as part of the program in order to enlighten women on the benefits of early diagnosis.
A well-equipped vehicle with oncologists and other experts tours remote areas of the region that do not have hospitals or health centers in order to provide mammography tests.
Breast cancer accounts for 20 percent of all cancers among Saudi women. “About 10 to 15 percent of all breast cancers are thought to be familial and only two-thirds to three-fourths of these cases are due to an inherited mutation,” one expert said.
P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News
Dr. Mohammed Al-Habdan, executive director of the program, described the program, which began last year, as the first of its kind in the region. The Health Ministry is likely to expand the program to other regions after reviewing its success.
“There are five permanent centers and one mobile center in the program,” said Habdan. King Fahd Specialist Hospital in Buraidah, King Saud Hospital in Unaizah, and the general hospitals in Al-Rass Bakeriya and Mudnib are permanent centers, he explained.
He said the program required special budget allocations in order to carry out its mission in an efficient manner and expand its services to other areas. “Some centers in the program still lack necessary equipment and medical facilities,” he explained.
“So far we have been able to cover 14 percent of targeted women in the region,” he said.
“We are providing comprehensive medical services to the targeted group. Patients are diagnosed by a multi-disciplinary-team (MDT) after taking mammograms,” he added.
Mammograms are the most important tool doctors have to help them diagnose, evaluate and follow women who have had breast cancer.
Safe and highly accurate, a mammogram is an X-ray photograph of the breast. The technique has been in use for about 30 years.
Leading experts including the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society now recommend annual mammograms for women over 40. Detecting breast cancer early through mammography means many more women are being treated for breast cancer and are able to protect their breasts.
“Under this program we have so far been able to detect four cancer cases in the early stages. We also found some non-cancerous tumors in some women,” Habdan said. “In order to avoid possible mistakes, mammography images are checked by three experts,” he added.
Habdan emphasized the significance of the program in the wake of growing breast cancer cases among Saudi women as a result of both hereditary and environmental factors.
“We have a relatively young population and we recommend mammography for women aged 35 and 60 every 18 months,” he said.
A public awareness campaign was organized in the region as part of the program in order to enlighten women on the benefits of early diagnosis.
A well-equipped vehicle with oncologists and other experts tours remote areas of the region that do not have hospitals or health centers in order to provide mammography tests.
Breast cancer accounts for 20 percent of all cancers among Saudi women. “About 10 to 15 percent of all breast cancers are thought to be familial and only two-thirds to three-fourths of these cases are due to an inherited mutation,” one expert said.
P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News
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