Egypt: Musician jailed with Mubarak’s sons describes luxurious jail with sauna, gym

A musician who was jailed with the late, ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s sons has revealed that they had a sauna, a gym and a football pitch in jail.

Hany Mehanna told Youssef El Husseiny on Nogoum TV that he was in prison with Gamal and Alaa Mubarak, businessmen Ahmed Ezz and Hesham Talaat Moustafa, and former Interior Minister Habib Al-Adly.

He said that there were 16 of them in the Tora Agricultural Prison in a building that was large enough for 3,000 people.

Mehanna said that Hesham Moustafa built a mosque with a luxurious interior whilst they were inside, and Ahmed Ezz built the gym and the spa.

READ: Egypt FM: No country has ‘the right’ to criticise our human rights

The prison also had snooker tables, table tennis tables, air conditioning and fresh food every day.

Mehanna, who was friends with the Mubarak sons, said it was them who bought him the TV and a fridge.

The revelation has caused an outcry with rights defenders contrasting how Mubarak loyalists are treated in jail compared to government critics.

Egypt’s 60,000 political prisoners live in overcrowded, vermin infested cells with little access to sunlight.

There are roughly 40 prisoners per cell and often they have to take it in turns to sleep whilst the others stand up because there is not enough room on the floor.

They are also systematically tortured and denied medical attention and visitors as a punitive measure.

In Scorpion Prison, which is located in the same complex as the Agricultural Prison, a number of political prisoners are held and singled out for particularly harsh treatment.