Twelfth prisoner dies of covid in Egypt

Former Egyptian parliamentarian, Mahmoud Youssef, has become the twelfth person to die in an Egyptian prison since the start of the year and the ninth prisoner since February after being infected with coronavirus, a human rights group has said.

Batel, a campaigning group which calls for the release of elderly and sick prisoners, said 64-year-old Youssef passed away in the Qeft Central Hospital where he had been moved after his health had severely deteriorated inside the National Security headquarters in Qena Governorate in southern Egypt.

The Shehab Centre for Human Rights has condemned medical negligence inside Egyptian prisons and detention centres and held the Ministry of the Interior responsible for the former lawmaker’s death.

Shehab demanded the release of all detainees to save their lives during the pandemic.

Earlier, Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned that detainees and prisoners are dying in Egyptian prisons. Adding that despite calls to provide prisoners with adequate health care, authorities have not been doing.

READ: I want to go back to my cell, says released child detainee in Egypt