New leaked letter from Egypt Badr Prison reveals details of detainees’ suicide attempts

A new leaked letter from Egypt’s Badr 3 Prison for Reform and Rehabilitation revealed shocking details of the reasons for attempting to commit suicide by political prisoners inside the prison.

The handwritten letter said one detainee has attempted to commit suicide in order to be relocated to a hospital where his father is being treated.

According to the letter, not only has the detainee almost lost his life, he also failed to meet his father, or to know any details about him or his health.

The letter quoted the National Security Officer responsible for managing the prison as saying that the prison is the worst prison in the Middle East.

According to the letter, the prison includes families of detainees, including fathers, sons, brothers and cousins, and although the prison regulations stipulate to reunite prisoners who are first-degree relatives, many are not reunited and know nothing about each other.

The letter revealed that some 20 prisoners have attempted to commit suicide, including two detainees who almost lost their lives, adding that the Prison administration isolated most of the suicide cases in the medical centre inside the Prison complex.

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According to a previous letter in February, Hossam Abu Shorouq, committed suicide inside his cell, while another detainee, Muhammad Turk Abu Yara, attempted suicide after prison officials refused to allow him to contact his family which lives in the earthquake hit area in Turkiye.

According to the Egyptian Network for Human Rights, Badr 3 Prison – which houses some of the country’s prominent prisoners of conscience – has witnessed a mass hunger strike and several suicide attempts in recent weeks as a result of tragic circumstances, including a ban on family visits and inadequate health care.

The Committee for Justice (CFJ), a human rights organisation based in Geneva, said it had documented at least five deaths inside the prison due to medical negligence.

Amnesty International has documented that prisoners in Badr 3 Prison are being held in “cruel and inhumane conditions”, where the “detainees are shivering in cold cells, with fluorescent lighting on their walls round the clock”.

The leaked message noted that Dr. Muhammad Badie, the general guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, participated in demanding to improve the prison conditions, as he entered into a hunger strike.