Detainees 'used coin' to injure themselves, says Egypt prosecution on torture videos

Egypt’s public prosecution has released a statement on the torture videos that were leaked in January to say that detainees used coins to injure themselves.

In the first video, which was leaked to the Guardian, prisoners in Al-Salam Prison were held in the stress position and showed open wounds on their heads and bruises across their chests and backs.

3- Most notably, stating that the detainees used a "coin" to cause their injuries!!!!!!#Torture will remain systematic in #Egypt as long as it is covered and security authorities enjoy complete impunity. 3/3

— Yasmin Omar (@yasminoviech) February 15, 2022

In a video later leaked to MEMO, a prisoner in Katameya Prison was filmed with his hands bound behind his back and others had wounds on their legs and backs.

In a statement, the Egyptian Public Prosecution said prisoners had smuggled a phone into their cells and decided to inflict injuries on one another using a metal coin in order to claim they were being tortured by prison guards.

The subject of Egypt’s 60,000 political prisoners is being raised by activists ahead of an upcoming summit in Brussels where the Egyptian president is looking to secure high-profile meetings with European politicians.

There are calls for politicians to use their meetings with the Egyptian president to secure the release of prisoners who are held in overcrowded conditions, systematically tortured and denied healthcare.

READ: European Commission demands France disclose sale of spying equipment to Egypt

Nineteen human rights organisations have called on the Egyptian government to administer urgent healthcare to a former deputy minister under the Morsi government, Saleh Soltan, after a recent visit by a relative revealed that he could not walk without two prison guards holding him up.

Researcher and master’s student Ahmed Samir Santawy was sentenced to four years in prison last year after being convicted of “publishing false news” after arriving in the country from Vienna where he was studying.

https://twitter.com/YildizSouheila/status/1493598291367448586

According to Amnesty International, Ahmed was arrested because he posted on social media about human rights violations taking place inside Egyptian prisons and how Egypt had handled the coronavirus crisis badly.

Ahmed has denied writing the posts.

Rahma Fateen, daughter of the chemical and environmental engineering professor Dr Seif Fateen, has posted a picture on Twitter of a message written on the MIT campus, where her father completed his PhD. Fateen has been held in detention for over three years.

scholar of chemical & environmental engineering who loved his country and wanted to see real change. Sisi arrested him,forcibly disappeared him for 9 months,and exceeded the maximum legal pre-trial detention period without proving any charges against him. It’s time to let him out

— Rahma • رحمة (@rfateen) February 15, 2022