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MISCELLANEOUS: Egypt has the capacity to imprison almost 55,000 people. Amnesty estimates that there are more than 114,000 inmates in the prisons in small, overcrowded cells. The photo was taken during a guided tour of the Borg el-Arab prison near Alexandria. The trip was organized by the Egyptian authorities. Photo: MOHAMED EL-SHAHED / AFP
The use of torture is widespread. Prisoners are denied food, beds, medicine, sanitation and visits. Ten years after the Arab Spring, about 60,000 political prisoners are being held in Egyptian jails.
In an already critical situation, the corona pandemic has worsened conditions in Egyptian prisons, Amnesty concluded in a recent report.
They call it a system that almost invites prisoners to get sick and die, and it is the political prisoners who are most affected.
The report comes ten years later thousands of people gathered in Tahrir Square in Egypt on January 25, 2011 to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak.
At that time, Egyptians could glimpse a hope for freedom and democracy.
But the current regime in Egypt by no means lives up to the hope that emerged during the Arab Spring. After leading a coup in 2013, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has ruled the country with an iron fist.
Today, about 60,000 political prisoners are in Egyptian jails.
– There are many indications that political prisoners are deliberately denied medical treatment. For some, this is a kind of death sentence, Amnesty Norway Secretary General John Peder Egenæs tells VG.
Political prisoners are denied medical care
The report, which has addressed the situation of 67 inmates in a total of 16 male and female prisons, describes the prisons as overcrowded and dirty. They can seek fresh air and clean water and receive medical care for a longer time.
The findings come as no surprise to those who have followed the increasingly authoritarian development under Sisi.
Prisoners are denied medical care as a form of punishment, the report states. Crown disease does not take priority:
– In some prisons they are put in small, dark cells that are used for isolation, and they do not receive treatment. In other prisons, they remained in the cell at a high risk of infecting others, Amnesty writes.
COUPPED POWER: Former army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi seized power in Egypt in 2013. Since then, the country has drastically retreated in an authoritarian direction. Today, Sisi and his regime are criticized by human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which accuse the Sisi regime of widespread human rights violations. Photo: Harald Henden
They fear that the lives of the prisoners are now in danger.
During Amnesty investigations into the report, 10 of 67 prisoners died. Two more died shortly after their release.
– During the period in which they were detained, they were denied medical treatment at least once, explains Egenæs.
The lack of medical attention is not new. Since 2013 alone, an estimated several hundred have died behind the prison walls.
– So-called “common criminals” often receive routine medical treatment. Here it is clear that there is a plan to deny medical treatment to political prisoners, Egenæs emphasizes.
Hundreds are in jail without trial
Several of the arrests and detentions of inmates have been carried out completely arbitrarily, and several of the so-called “prisoners of conscience” can be found behind the walls in Egypt.
They are often incarcerated on the grounds of religion, sexual orientation, gender, political position or ethnic background. 28 journalists are in prison at the time of writing.
– It is about the systematic imprisonment of dissident opposition human rights activists, explains the Secretary General.
THE REPORT GIVES HOPE: The Secretary General of Amnesty Norway, John Peder Egenæs, hopes that the Amnesty report will attract the international attention necessary to generate change: – This is a state that depends on the support of other countries. A bad reputation can lead them to have to make changes, Egenæs tells VG. Photo: Ingeborg Huse Amundsen
At the same time, the independent Egyptian media are being exterminated. The rest have been bought by the military.
– This crisis that we see here begins with the total abandonment of freedom of expression, says Egenæs.
He says the judicial system in Egypt has gotten good at using a terrorism law that allows them to remain in pre-trial detention for more than two years without a sentence.
This is how Sisi has frequently managed to suppress all opposition in recent years.
Shouts to other countries: – This must come at a price
The use of both isolation and torture is considered widespread in prisons. The report shows that it is common for prisoners to be isolated and exposed to violence for up to 23 hours at a time.
Amnesty believes that both the prison authorities and the prosecution should be responsible for the treatment.
However, the authorities refuse to provide their own information on prison conditions. It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving office. Hundreds are placed together in small cells.
PRISON: Lawyer and human rights activist Mahienour el-Massry remains in prison after being arrested in 2019. She has fought for the rights of workers and refugees, and was arrested after participating in demonstrations against the president. Photo: Private
The situation worries the human rights organization.
Amnesty is now calling on the authorities to reduce the number of prisoners by releasing those detained arbitrarily, and that all prisoners should receive adequate supervision from the health service and the vaccination.
– We have to bring with us other states that have influence over the Egyptian regime. This must come at a price for the Egyptian authorities, Egenæs emphasizes.
Predicting a change with Biden
Rafto Prize CEO Jostein Hole Kobbeltvedt helped focus last year on the current situation in Egypt. He then presented the annual human rights award to the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF) for their work on human rights in Egypt.
The extensive use of illegal imprisonment through terrorist clauses is well-known news for Kobbeltvedt.
– All those who work with human rights in Egypt are at great risk of arrest. In recent years, we’ve seen increasing use of such anti-terrorism laws against activists where they don’t need a sentence to arrest you, he says.
Now he’s excited about whether conditions will now change with Biden as the new president of the United States.
– Trump has given Sisi the green light to continue and let her do as she pleases. It will be exciting to see if we get a change right now.
