Amnesty warns of humanitarian abuses in Egyptian prisons

Amnesty International has issued a new report highlighting the terrible abuses committed against detainees held in solitary confinement in Egyptian prisons.

The report titled “Crushing humanity: The abuse of solitary confinement in Egypt’s prisons” revealed that dozens of detainees in solitary confinement, including human rights activists, journalists and members of opposition groups, are deliberately subjected to “horrendous physical abuse” including beatings by prison guards.

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According to the report, detainees reported being “forced … to kneel and to drop my head into the bucket used in solitary cells for urination and defecation, repeatedly for 30 minutes”.

Amnesty added that the physical and psychological abuses inflicted on the prisoners makes them suffer from “panic attacks, paranoia, hypersensitivity to stimuli, and difficulties with concentration and memory”.