After sudden raid of his cell, opposition prisoner dies in Egyptian prison

Egyptian opposition prisoner, Jumaa Mohammed Hassan, died on Friday morning hours after the Egyptian security forces suddenly raided his cell, Arab21.com reported.

According to the Human rights researcher at the Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms, Ahmed Attar, Hassan died of a severe heart attack.

Attar confirmed that late on Thursday, a number of heavily armed security forces suddenly raided Hassan’s cell, causing him to suffer a heart attack, and that they left his cell without offering medical assistance.

On his Facebook page, Attar stated “the security forces closed Hassan’s cell while he was screaming and appealing for help. When his condition deteriorated, prisoners in other cells started to knock at the door for a long time before he was evacuated to the hospital where he passed away.”

Attar announced that Hassan was detained for more than five years over several allegations, noting that he was prevented from receiving the necessary medication, despite his bad health condition being well-known among the administration of the Tora Prison.

In addition, Attar revealed that the prison administration had rejected an appeal by Hassan before his death, to grant him amnesty on medical grounds, as he suffered from chronic heart diseases and was denied access to the prison hospital to have the necessary treatment.

Attar acknowledged that all the prisoners at Tora Prison are suffering from severe prison conditions, and that they are subjected to “continuous violations and sudden inspection raids.”

He further explained that families of the prisoners are also exposed to continuous humiliation and abuse when they visit their relatives in prisons.

“The administration of Tora Prison confiscate medicine brought by families and threatens prisoners to transfer them to far prisons such as Al-Wadi al-Jadeed Prison,” Attar added.