Reports: Five died inside Egyptian detention centres within two weeks since July

Five detainees have died in Egyptian detention centres within two weeks since 27 July, local human rights organisations have said.

The Egyptian Network for Human Rights said the first victim was Mostafa Montaser Hamed, 19, who died on 27 July, in the Al-Montazah third police station in Alexandria Governorate, and whose family said he had been tortured prior to his death.

At the time, the Egyptian Public Prosecution issued a statement in which it denied the allegations of torture, claiming that Hamed’s health had deteriorated and he subsequently died.

The Network said the second case was Army Brigadier General, Sami Muhammad Suleiman, 57, who died on 5 August, at the Zagazig Police Station in Sharkia Governorate.

According to the Network, General Suleiman was a political prisoner and a cancer patient whose health has deteriorated due to the tragic conditions of his imprisonment, after spending six years in pre- trial detention.

Also, at the time, the Ministry of Interior denied the allegations that Suleiman had died as a result of medical negligence, claiming that he died while receiving medical care at the hospital for his cancer.

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The third case was Mostafa Nafei Ramadan, 19, who died inside the El Raml Second Police Station in Alexandria as a result of “continuous torture during two weeks of detention”.

However, the Ministry of Interior denied allegations that he had died as a result of torture, and said Ramadan felt sick after having a fight with a fellow inmate and was transferred to the University Hospital for treatment, where he died later.

The fourth case was Ahmed El-Sayed Jaballah, 42, a software engineer who died on 8 August, due to cardiac arrest caused by the inhumane conditions of his imprisonment inside the Zagazig Second police station in Sharkia Governorate, two weeks after his arrest.

The Egyptian authorities did not comment on the case.

The fifth case was documented by the We Record organisation on 15 August, with the death of Khaled Abdel Hamid Morsi, 63, inside the Al- Montazah Second Police Station in Alexandria inside an overcrowded and poorly ventilated cell.

The Egyptian authorities have not commented on this case, to date.

During the first six months of this year, El Nadeem Centre for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture documented 732 violations inside prisons and detention centres in Egypt, including 21 deaths caused by medical negligence and 43 deaths as a result of extrajudicial killing.

The We Record said, in 2021, 60 detainees died inside Egyptian prisons, including 52 political prisoners, eight criminal convicts and six children.

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