In Egypt, two new detainees join the death list due to medical negligence

Human rights sources for the island revealed the death of political prisoners from the Sharkia governorate (north of Cairo) today, Sunday, due to deliberate medical neglect.

This brings the number of detainees who died in Egyptian prisons because of the cold and medical negligence since the beginning of the year to ten, among them a woman, and a criminal prisoner died while being arrested at the Luxor Police Station (southern Egypt).

According to the Egyptian Coordination of Rights and Freedoms, the detainee Magdy Taha Al-Qalawi (59 years old, a school principal) breathed his last breath in his prison in Wadi Al-Natroun prison, at dawn today after a struggle with the disease, as he was suffering from a kidney disease that needed special medical care, but the housing department denied him treatment .

She added that Al-Qalawi was arrested with his son Ahmed more than a year and a half ago on charges of joining a group that was established in contravention of the provisions of law and the constitution.

The detainee Ibrahim Al-Batea (61 years) also breathed his last in his prison in Kafr Saqr Police Department in Sharkia Governorate at dawn today as a result of deliberate medical negligence after suffering a stroke.

Inhumane conditions
Human Rights Watch accused the Egyptian security services of "persistently killing dissidents and detainees by holding them in inhumane conditions and preventing medication from the sick."

Increased deaths as a result of medical neglect in prisons prompted Egyptian human rights organizations to ask the International Committee of the Red Cross to inspect prison conditions and allow United Nations experts, led by the Special Rapporteur on torture.

In a joint statement, nine human rights organizations expressed grave concern over the escalating number of deaths in Egyptian prisons since the beginning of this year as a result of the continuing policy of denial of health care, the worsening of medical neglect for patients and the elderly, extreme intransigence and refusal to enter blankets and heavy clothes for detainees in this severe cold.