Egypt MP calls for discussion over repeated deaths in prisons

Egyptian Member of Parliament Haitham Hariri filed a request on Wednesday to discuss the repeated cases of killing and torture of prison inmates at the hands of police officers and low-ranking policemen.

Such practices are rejected from a legal and constitutional perspective, Hariri said. Although in August the parliament preliminarily approved amending the police law at the request of the government and the interior minister, violations by police personnel have continued unabated, Hariri added.

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Every day we hear of torturing an Egyptian citizen in a police station or a prison, or on the street. Such practices make citizens feel that there is no justice or ministry, which makes citizens start to reject the entire Egyptian regime, according to the MP, who cited statements by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in which the latter emphasized that no one is above the law.

The state’s war on terror should not come at the expense of Egyptian citizens’ dignity, the MP added.

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According to the international human rights organisation Human Rights Watch, Egyptian prisons have seen the death of 330 persons in prison in the period from July 2013, which marks the military ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi, to November 2015.

There are more than 45,000 persons in Egyptian prisons, according to human rights organisations.