TABUK — The Saudi embassy in Cairo has denied detention of Saudi patients in Cairo on charges of trading in human organs and said there are only two Saudi patients among the 40 other foreigners and Egyptians involved in the case. The embassy, in a statement, said one of the two patients, Jaiz Al-Shammari has died while the second, Abdullah Al-Shabrami, is free now. "Shammari has died because the kidney transplant operation was conducted in a place which was not prepared for such operations," it explained. The two brothers accused the embassy of not doing enough to help them and said it promised to settle their case but it did not. The embassy said Shabrami is free but the attorney general of Egypt has banned him and his brother Abdul Ilah from traveling until investigations were completed. "Abdul Illah was not detained. He went to the Egyptian general attorney's office accompanied by a lawyer from the embassy. He was released after paying the bail," the statement said. The embassy recalled that under the Egyptian law, anyone who obtains a human organ for transplant without securing necessary official approvals faces five-year imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 Egyptian pounds. "The prison term is increased to life if the donor dies," it added. The embassy denied knowledge of illegal kidney transplants in Egypt and said since the very first day of the case, it has been making efforts to provide legal support to the two accused Saudis. "Shammari was released from detention before his death. Both he and Shabrami were transferred to a government hospital at their own expenses," the embassy said. It said Shabrami, who is presently in the intensive care unit, cannot leave the hospital before his treatment is completed. The embassy said it was still continuing its efforts with the concerned Egyptian authorities to lift the travel ban on the two brothers so as to go home. "The ambassador addressed the general attorney three times and talked to him on telephone within his efforts to enable the two brothers to travel back to the Kingdom," the embassy said.
