Dr. Ayman Fouda, the former head of the Egyptian Forensic Medicine Authority, resolved the controversy that arose in the past few days about the lack of decomposition of the body of the late artist Alaa Wali El-Din, despite his death 20 years ago.
Fouda said in statements to “Echo of the Country” that all bodies decompose and there is no truth to talk about the lack of decomposition of one body from another, indicating that decomposition occurs for any body after death for a period ranging between 36 and 72 hours, while the total decomposition of the body occurs after 6 months. Where the corpse disappears and only the bone appears.
And the former chief forensic doctor, commenting on the news that the body of Alaa Wali Al-Din did not decompose, confirmed that there are only two cases in which decomposition may not occur. Unsuitable temperature for the decomposition of beneficial bacteria.
Fouda pointed out that the second case is if the body is immersed in water, whether in the sea or the Nile, where the water interacts with the fats in the body, making it more like soap and difficult to decompose.
Dr. Ayman Fouda continued, saying that the average temperature in Egypt in general is suitable for the process of decomposition of corpses, in addition to the availability of the air humidity factor and the availability of insects, which is an atmosphere suitable for the decomposition process to occur.
Commenting on the lack of decomposition of the body of the artist, Alaa Wali Al-Din, he said that with regard to the exhumation or transfer of the bodies from their place, the official is the Ministry of the Interior and not Al-Azhar Al-Sharif as some have promoted, according to the law of cemeteries.
And the former chief forensic doctor revealed, commenting on the fact that the body of the late artist Alaa Wali Al-Din did not decompose, that the bodies of the Pharaohs remain so far because they were mummified and immersed in salt for long periods, and the lack of decomposition of the body has nothing to do with religion, but is basically a scientific matter.