US Edition 
Egypt postpones trial of American hunger-striker in 'critical' condition
Ohio State University graduate held for 13 months without charge found unconscious in his cell, bleeding from the mouth
Egypt has been accused of toying with the life of an American citizen on hunger-strike in one of the country’s most notorious prisons.
Mohamed Soltan, a 26-year-old graduate of Ohio State University, has lost over a third of his body weight after surviving on just salt and sugar water for over 230 days. He has been held without charge for almost 13 months.
Soltan’s family have warned his health is in a critical state and that he is at imminent risk of organ failure. He was found unconscious in his cell on Sunday, bleeding from the mouth.
On Tuesday, a Cairo judge postponed Mr Soltan’s next hearing until 11 October. Foreign reporters were barred from entering the courtroom at the request of the judge.
“They just want to be in charge of his health and his future,” said Soltan’s cousin, Sarah Mohamed, standing outside the makeshift courtroom in a Cairo prison institute. “He’s in very bad shape.”
The young activist was shot in the arm during the forced dispersal of the pro-Morsi Rabaa el Adaweya camp in August of last year, and arrested 10 days later. He is accused of helping to plan a series of attacks on the state.
Since his arrest, Soltan has repeatedly emphasised his American citizenship, appealing personally to President Barack Obama to help. In a letter from prison, he asked the US leader whether his fate would have been different if he had been born with "blond hair and blue eyes".
He now shares a cell with his father, Salah Soltan, an an outspoken member of the Muslim Brotherhood. There is no indication that the activist is also a member of the group, although he was a key figure in the media team at the Rabaa sit-in.
Soltan, who also holds Egyptian citizenship, is one of at least 16,000 people jailed since the overthrow of Egypt’s first popularly elected president in July 2013.
Detainees, including Soltan, are often denied adequate medical assistance. More than 80 people have died in Egyptian custody this year.
“Denying medical care to someone who is critically ill is not just callous and cruel, but blatantly unlawful,” Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said in a statement last week.
According to the organisation, at least 85 other jailed activists are currently known to be on hunger strike in prisons and police stations across Egypt in protest at the dire conditions in which they are held, or in some cases, their prolonged pre-charge or pre-trial detention and unfair trials.