Last night’s talk shows on 22 October 2018
The story of a British tourist who died in Egypt and went home missing a heart and kidney was front and center on what was an otherwise bland night on the airwaves.
Egypt has denied reports claiming that organs were stolen from the body of a British who died in Hurghada, as some UK newspapers alleged over the weekend. The State Information Service said authorities conducted a standard autopsy on David Humphries’ body to determine the cause of death and extracted “samples” for testing, including tissue from the kidney, as well as Humphries’ heart, which has been preserved in formalin. Reham Ibrahim dissected the statement on Hona Al Asema (watch, runtime: 4:54).
British media took advantage of the fact that Humphries’ family was not informed of the autopsy beforehand, SIS boss Diaa Rashwan told Amr Adib on El Hekaya. He accused outlets, including the Sun and Daily Mail, of targeting Egypt with a smear campaign and confirmed that the organs will be flown to London today after the examiners complete their tests (watch, runtime: 4:43 and here, runtime: 3:51). Humphries was admitted to the hospital twice during his stay in Hurghada, both times complaining of chest pains, said Mohamed Samy, who runs a private hospital. He told Masaa DMC’s Eman El Hosary that doctors tried and failed to resuscitate Humphries when he was brought in the second time (watch, runtime: 6:32).
Former MP Mustafa El Nagar is not being held by the authorities, Rashwan told Adib on El Hekaya. The former lawmaker’s wife claimed last week that El Nagar had been missing for three weeks and was believed to have been detained by authorities. The SIS said that Nagar is on the run from a three-year prison sentence for insulting the judiciary (watch, runtime: 5:11).
Things are going smooth for Al-Wafd party, according to party leader Bahaa Abu Shoka, who downplayed rumors of a rift within the ranks, telling Eman El Hosary that there have only been differences in opinion, rather than discord (watch, runtime: 6:30).
Meanwhile, Reham Ibrahim delved deep into a discussion of the new smart card system for farmers, which is expected to be implemented soon in a bid to tighten control over exports (watch, runtime: 12:37).