Families claim spread of scabies among Egyptian detainees, security forces deny

Relatives of imprisoned supporters of Egyptian President, Mohamed Morsi, said that their family members have been afflicted with skin diseases, including scabies as a result of poor ventilation in the security headquarters detention camp in Beni Suef. Security sources have denied the claims, saying that medical care is provided for all prisoners.

Some relatives of the prisoners, who preferred anonymity, have reported to Anadolu news agency that many skin diseases have spread among their children imprisoned in Abu Salim camp in Beni Suef.

Furthermore, they said that about 35 to 40 inmates out of about 160 prisoners were newly infected with the skin disease, scabies, as a result of poor ventilation and the absence of any windows in the prison cells, causing the spread of infection, as well as a lack of any medical care.

Quoting his imprisoned brother, one of the relatives said that “the management of the camp had promised some time ago to install fans in the cells before the month of Ramadan, but this has not been done until today.”

For his part, Ahmed Al-Sukary, a lawyer for a number of prisoners at the camp, told Anadolu that: “the situation at Camp Abu Salim is extremely inhumane. The prison is made of closed compartments which violate the rights of the detainees, with regards to food administration at specific times, or in the provision of ventilation to the prisoners or in allowing them to enter toilets, all of which have exacerbated the health crisis.”

Al-Sukary added: “we have raised grievances for them to be released because there is no justification for their arbitrary imprisonment…Nor were they arrested while caught red-handed in an act, and their place of residence is known, and there is no fear of them escaping.”

Al-Sukary pointed out that they “demanded during their renewal prosecution hearings better conditions inside their prison cells, but to no avail.”

Meanwhile, a security source within the Security Department of Beni Suef, denied what he called “allegations” by the incarcerated Morsi supporters. He said “the prisoners are provided with medical care and are treated for conditions that need medical care, where they are transferred to the prison hospital or to the general hospital for emergency cases”, pointing out that more than one case has been transferred during the past weeks and months to hospitals, without specifying the nature of these cases.

Many of those arrested during the riots that erupted in the province after the violent dispersal of the sit-ins in Rabaa Adaweyya and Al-Nahda squares in Cairo on 14 August 2013 are currently being held in the Abu Salim camp.