After days of prevention .. Egyptian authorities open the visit to political detainees

Mohamed Seif El Din - Cairo

The Egyptian authorities on Sunday reopened family visits in part to political prisoners in most prisons, with the exception of the new scorpion and scorpion prisons in the Tora area south of Cairo.

On Monday, Morsi suffered a severe heart attack during a trial session in which he died, the prosecutor said in a brief statement. The Muslim Brotherhood questioned the story, asserting that Mursi was assassinated.

Immediately after Morsi's death, hundreds of political prisoners in several Egyptian prisons entered a hunger strike to this day, accusing the Egyptian authorities of being behind his death. On the other hand, the Ministry of the Interior prevented visits to the families of detainees, and transferred a number of detainees to other quarters, in a disciplinary action followed.

"She managed to visit her brother today amid tight security measures and the visit lasted only 10 minutes," said Sumaya Saad, a sister of one of the detainees at Borg al-Arab prison in Alexandria, northern Egypt. She said that the prison administration prevented the entry of large quantities of food Of detainees.

Continue the strike

As for the atmosphere inside the prisons, Sumaya told al-Jazeera Net that "there are a large number of detainees who continue to go on hunger strike since the death of President Mohamed Morsi," noting that the prison administration prevented them from exercising, as punishment for the continuation of the strike.

In the Wadi al-Natroun prison in the governorate of Beheira (north of Egypt), the prison administration allowed a small number of visitors to visit (estimated at 40).

In Zagazig prison in Sharkia province (the hometown of Morsi), the visit was limited to the delivery of food, medicine and clothing to the prison administration, which was handed over to their families.

The number of prisons in the country is 68, of which 26 were established under the current president. In addition to these prisons, there are 382 detention centers within the police stations and stations in the various governorates, in addition to the secret prisons in the camps, according to a report issued by the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights.