The Cassation Court rejects the curcumin doctor’s appeal against his imprisonment

Written by Ahmed Ismail

Saturday, February 18, 2023 01:56 PM

The Economic Court of Appeal in Cairo decided, earlier, to accept the appeal of the accused, Ahmed Abu Al-Nasr, the curcumin doctor, to a two-year prison sentence, on charges of impersonating a doctor and promoting the sale of unlicensed drugs in violation of the law, and reducing his imprisonment by one year.

The Economic Court in Cairo had punished the accused, Ahmed Abu Al-Nasr, with two years imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 pounds on charges of impersonating a doctor and promoting unlicensed drugs in violation of the law.

Earlier, the Public Prosecution referred the accused, Ahmed Abu Al-Nasr, to criminal trial, accusing him of practicing the medical profession while he was not licensed to practice it, and impersonating himself as a doctor, in addition to the other accused committing the crime of distributing these things without a permit.

The Public Prosecution submitted the accused, Ahmed Abu Al-Nasr – on the run – and another with him to the competent Economic Misdemeanor Court; For putting them up and offering them for sale adulterated food and plants, and medical preparations and supplies that no decision was issued by the Minister of Health or any other concerned party to trade them with their knowledge of that, and for opening an office for advertising drugs and medical supplies without a license, and for the establishment and management of pages on the social networking site (Facebook) and websites of the accused, Ahmed Abu Al-Nasr. Others with the aim of committing the crime of selling those things without a license, and using publishing means that would lead the public to believe in his right to practice the medical profession while he is not licensed to practice it, and impersonating himself as a doctor, in addition to the other accused committing the crime of distributing these things without a permit, and other misdemeanours.

Then, on the twentieth of last February, the accused, Ahmed Abu Al-Nasr, was arrested and presented to the Public Prosecution, which conducted a supplementary investigation with him, interrogated him, and presented him to the competent court, which ordered his continued detention, and set a session to consider the case.

The Public Prosecution office had received the investigations of the Anti-Works Crime Department of the General Directorate of Works Investigation and Protection of Intellectual Property Rights on the twenty-seventh of last October, which included the establishment and management of the accused Ahmed Abu Al-Nasr, a satellite channel and an electronic one on YouTube, in which he claims to be a specialist doctor and healer of herbs and plants. And that he promoted in these two channels the sale of herbal medicines and preparations, claiming their ability to cure various diseases, and their superiority over manufactured medicines, and that he made his place of residence a place to practice his criminal activity, and managed the two channels referred to, in addition to announcing some places as outlets to sell what he was offering, Investigations confirmed that it was not approved by the Ministry of Health and that it was adulterated drugs, so the Public Prosecution issued a warrant to arrest him, and to search his residence and the outlets that he announced.

The implementation of the permission and the inspection of sales outlets resulted in finding medicinal products of unknown origin in them, and seizing a computer that contained files related to buying and selling operations. Satellite and electronic – and received customers’ telephone conversations, where about fifty electronic storage mediums were seized, which included the names of product distributors and their details, recordings of conversations of customers seeking purchases, information about workers, their operating system, and a statement of the warehouses in which the products were deposited. The Public Prosecution asked five of the workers in those headquarters under inspection They disclosed its sale to two companies run by one of the accused.

The Public Prosecution delegated the Department of Inspection of Pharmacies and Warehouses – in the General Department of Markets Department – to examine the seized products, and it concluded that they are extracts and products from plants, including the extract (curcumin), and they are not registered with the Egyptian Medicines Authority or any other authority, and that the accused Ahmed Abu Al-Nasr claimed their ability to Treating various diseases without obtaining approval from the Egyptian Medicines Authority.

The Public Prosecution also delegated the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority to examine the computer and the seized storage media, and the examination resulted in access to the files of the recipes of the seized products, their prices, the locations of the private clinics that dealt with the accused, their work system, their agreements with them, the sale and purchase transactions, and the names and data of customers. , and many video clips in which the accused Ahmed Abu Al-Nasr appeared during his promotion of these products, and the technical examination also resulted in identifying the accused’s page on the social networking site Facebook, established since (2014), and the publications it contained, and it was possible to access a channel using the Telegram application). It was newly established during the year (2020) and was allocated by the accused for the same criminal activity, and the examination also found his website on the international information network used for the same purpose, as it was established in the report of the National Food Safety Authority that all the seized products are not registered with the authority, and are in violation of the law, and that their characteristics and compositions are unknown, This causes confusion among consumers and harms their health, and is considered a form of deception and fraud.