Muhammad Sultan (human rights activist and founder of the "Freedom Initiative") wrote that he was imprisoned with Mustafa Qassem, who died in Egyptian prisons because of neglect, and considered his death a tragedy for Egypt and the United States.
Sultan said - in his article in The Washington Post - that he received this week a call he had feared for years, mourning the death of his friend and companion of his cell, Mustafa Qasim, an American, after 77 months he had been unjustly spent in Egypt's notorious prisons, in which he was exposed to conditions that exacerbated his already deteriorating health, and was the first case His organization took over after his release.
He tells that when he first met Mustafa in Tora prison, he could only ask how a person like him could end up in such a place, and Mustafa surprised him immediately with his kind spirit, broad smile, and quiet voice joking to him, "I am too old to make trouble, unlike you." . He said that he was arrested while he was passing during the dispersal of the Rabaa Al-Adawiya sit-in, and his only crime was that he was carrying his American passport with him when he was arrested, which exposed him to the "whims" of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.
Sultan adds that during their time together we compared their observations about the conditions prevailing in various prisons and police stations, compared to their experiences with methods of torture and humiliating parties that officers and guards used against prisoners, and told him stories about his family, his love for New York, and his passion for entrepreneurship.
Sultan al-Sisi describes Egypt as a black hole for human rights, democratic rule, and the rule of law, and how since Sisi began an unprecedented and severe crackdown on dissidents in 2013, thousands of Egyptians have lost their lives in extrajudicial killings, and tens of thousands of people accused of political charges have been imprisoned Fabricated, including activists, journalists and US citizens.
Today, there are an estimated 60,000 political prisoners living in inhumane and brutal conditions, along with reports of 677 deaths due to medical negligence, including ousted President Mohamed Morsi.
He comments that the tragedy of Mustafa's death will greatly affect the lives of his friends and family, and those fortunate with his knowledge and love will never forget his strength, because he persevered despite his poor health.
Sultan referred to handwritten notes that Mustafa escaped from prison to President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence through Congressman Peter King, writing, "I am literally dying." On another note, he said, "I want my children to know that I fought with all my might for my freedom, and I want them to know that America is great because our government will fight with all its might for the sake of its citizens."
Sultan notes that the most painful things for Mustafa’s death were the failure of the US government to secure his release, and ignored all public and private calls for his release. He criticized: How can a US citizen die in an Egyptian prison when he was defending senior US officials about his case? He said this is an important question that the Trump administration should answer.
And he anticipated that when the United States fails to intervene seriously on behalf of Americans wrongfully detained abroad, it thus sends a message to every forgotten prisoner around the world that their lives have no significance in political calculations.
He concluded that Mustafa's death also speaks of the level of impunity in which despotic rulers operate today, the Trump administration's collusion with such grievances, and that this tragedy is a clear stigma in Trump's excessive record of returning Americans to their homes.