Egypt prisoner sends help plea after repeated attacks by officers at Wadi Al-Natrun prison

The Egyptian Network for Human Rights (ENHR) on Friday published a plea for help by Ahmed Zaidan Abdel Azim (38), an Egyptian prisoner serving a 15-year sentence at Wadi Al-Natrun Prison. Abdel Azim said he had suffered severe violations, such as beatings, electrocution, threats of isolation and other retaliatory measures, by the head of investigations, Officer Momen Awais and other officers and wardens. This is despite his deteriorating health condition and his need for heart surgery.

“If anything happens to me at any time, the people responsible for that are Momen Awais, Emad Hamdi and the administration of the 430 Wadi Al-Natrun Prison,” Abdel Azim expressed in his plea.

Abdel Azim’s family confirmed that he constantly receives threats of isolation and further obstinacy in finalising his treatment procedures following the deterioration of his health and his urgent need for heart surgery. They expressed their fear of Officer Awais’s brutality against their son, who continually suffers torment and violence at his hands, according to the ENHR report.

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Over the past weeks, the ENHR has issued several statements explaining the suffering of prisoner Abdel Azim and the repeated assaults he has endured by the head of investigations, Officer Awais, his assistant Officer Ahmed Abdel Sattar, prisoner Emad Hamdi, the right-hand man of the head of investigations and the one who leads the prison First Lieutenant Ahmed El-Saeidy.

According to the ENHR statements, during these violations, Abdel Azim was whipped, beaten, verbally insulted and electrocuted, leading to the deterioration in his health and his admission to the prison hospital. Reports issued after his examination confirmed that he suffers from heart palpitations, excess electricity in the heart and needs surgery and a stent.

Abdel Azim’s family has submitted several requests to the Egyptian Prisons Authority for his medical release, given his poor condition and urgent need for treatment outside the prison hospital, in addition to serving nearly ten years out of his 15-year sentence, but all efforts have been in vain.

The family has also filed complaints with the Prisons Authority about the assaults he has suffered at the hands of Awais and others involved in attacking and torturing him, but no one has paid any attention to them, according to the ENHR’s statement.

The ENHR has called on the Egyptian Public Prosecutor to immediately intervene and conduct an urgent investigation into the complaint of prisoner Abdel Azim’s family, his protection from the brutality and persecution of Awais and investigate the numerous reports submitted by the families of prisoners at Wadi Al-Natrun Prison.

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