Al-Jazeera correspondent loses one third of his body weight in Cairo prison

Al-Jazeera correspondent Abdullah Elshamy, who has been held in a Cairo jail for nearly nine months without formally being charged, has lost about a third of his body weight after spending 100 days on hunger strike to protest against his imprisonment.

Elshamy’s shrunken physique was captured in photographs taken on Saturday ahead of his appearance before the North Cairo Court, where the judge extended his detention for another 45 days despite not filing any criminal charges against him.

The journalist has dropped nearly 40 kilos since going on hunger strike on 21 January to protest his arrest and treatment in prison. He had been covering the Egyptian authorities’ crackdown of a sit-in organised by pro-Morsi supporters in Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square in Cairo on 14 August, violence that sparked international condemnation.

Since his arrest, Elshamy has not been checked by an independent medical team and the Egyptian authorities refuse to allow the International Red Cross to see any of the detainees.

He is also being denied legal representation.

Elshamy sent a message a few days ago from his prison cell vowing that he would continue with his hunger strike until he gains his freedom or dies of hunger.