The United States called on Monday May 2 for a
“credible”
investigation into the death in custody of economist Ayman Hadhoud in Egypt, deploring a
“scandalous step backwards”
in terms of human rights.
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This 40-year-old economist died in early March in a psychiatric hospital in Cairo.
The authorities had first arrested him accusing him of violence and then had him interned, officially for
“schizophrenic disorders”
.
The official autopsy evokes a death due to a
"chronic heart disease"
and the prosecution ruled out in April
"any criminal track"
.
But the brother of the deceased, Omar Hadhoud, claimed to refute these conclusions, stressing that the family had not been notified of the death until a month after his death.
Organizations for the defense of human rights have evoked the hypothesis of a
"forced disappearance"
and
"torture"
.
"We are deeply disturbed by reports of the death in custody of Egyptian researcher Ayman Hadhoud, and accusations of torture
," US Foreign Ministry spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Monday.
“The circumstances of his arrest, his treatment, his death require, in our opinion, a credible, transparent and thorough investigation without delay,”
he said.
"We urge the Egyptian government to make progress in the protection of human rights
," he pleaded, assuring that such progress would also improve relations between Washington and Cairo.
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Egypt, the most populous of the Arab countries with 103 million inhabitants, has 60,000 prisoners of conscience according to human rights organizations.
Ayman Hadhoud was in charge of economic issues in the liberal Reform and Development Party of Mohamed al-Sadat, an MP and nephew of assassinated President Sadat who recently negotiated the release of many activists in Egypt.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi also pardoned thousands of prisoners at the end of April, including journalist Hossam Moniss, imprisoned for
“spreading false news”
.
“In the same way that we express our distress when there are scandalous and important steps backwards as in this case”
by Ayman Hadhoud,
“we also salute when there are positive steps”
, underlined Ned Price.
"We welcome reports of Egypt's release"
of "dozens of political prisoners and journalists," he added, calling for
"further releases and pardons
. "