Hunger strikers subject to severe torture inside Egyptian prisons

Al-Azhar Students’ Union has said that there are over 150 students on hunger strike and they are subjected to severe torture, including verbal and physical abuse inside prisons.

In a statement the union said that prisons’ administrations threaten the hunger strikers with burning, killing them or moving them to be with criminal detainees.

The prisoners, the statement said, are banned from getting water for long periods of time. One hunger striker is the head of the Faculty of Commerce in Al-Azahar University, Usama Zaid, who is in Abu-Za’bal Prison.

According to the statement the prisoners receive bad medical treatment and are even subjected to torture inside the prisons’ clinics.

Hunger strikers are put in solitary confinement for long periods or put with criminal prisoners, who are encouraged to beat and kill them without being liable to judicial trials.

The statement condemned the deep silence of the national and international human rights organisations which deal with political prisoners selectively. They announce their solidarity with certain prisoners and ignore others.

The union asked: “Where are your principles and values for our students who are subjected to the worst kind of torture inside prisons?”

National and international human rights organisations, as well as the western government, loudly announced their support for the secular Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, who was released on bail last week.