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Amnesty International on prisons in Egypt: torture and ill

2021-01-25T00:58:35.420Z


Even ten years after the Arab Spring, conditions in Egyptian prisons are staggering, according to Amnesty International. A particular problem in Corona times: the hopeless overcrowding.


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Prison in egypt (symbol image)

Photo: 

KHALED DESOUKI / AFP

For the report, the detention experiences of 67 people from three women's and 13 men's prisons in seven Egyptian governorates are evaluated.

According to Amnesty International, massive human rights violations in Egyptian prisons were denounced.

In a balance sheet ten years after the "Arab Spring", the human rights organization complained on Monday that thousands of people were imprisoned in Egypt "who were on the front lines for social and political justice or who were convicted in unfair trials in military courts."

The human rights organization criticized the prisoners being specifically denied the fulfillment of basic needs and protection against the corona virus.

"Torture, mistreatment and targeted undersupply" remained "the order of the day" in Egyptian prisons during the pandemic.

The general secretary of Amnesty International in Germany, Markus Beeko, said that prisoners were "cooped up in the country's completely overcrowded prisons."

The organization said it was investigating the deaths of twelve prisoners who died in custody or shortly after their release, and is aware of 37 other deaths in 2020 in which the families would not have consented to publication for fear of reprisals.

Repeated reports of sexual assault

Egyptian human rights groups estimate that hundreds of people have died in custody since 2013.

But the authorities still refuse to publish figures or allow independent investigations into such deaths, according to Amnesty.

The number of prisoners had skyrocketed after the fall of the late former President Mohammed Morsi in July 2013.

As a result, "the already inhuman overcrowding in Egyptian prisons has worsened," said Amnesty.

According to the organization, two former female prisoners said they were sexually abused and molested by medical staff at the prison.

Armaments "a completely wrong signal"

The Amnesty report once again reminded us how, ten years after the Arab Spring, the Egyptian government »uses violence, torture and targeted repression« every day, said Beeko.

The federal government and the EU should "no longer look the other way."

They would have to link their economic and security cooperation with Egypt to compliance with basic human rights standards.

The delivery of armaments to Egypt was "a completely wrong signal in view of the repression against Egyptian citizens and the role of Egypt in the armed conflicts in Libya and Yemen," criticized Beeko.

It is overdue that Germany and the EU "finally take a position for human rights and against torture and oppression in Egypt."

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jok / AFP

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2021-01-25

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