Cairo -
"Suicide is better than continuing in the prisons." This is how human rights sources recently reported about suicide attempts among detainees in Egyptian prisons, which sparked a wide interaction on social media, at a time when the Egyptian government denied this news, stressing that the human rights conditions of prisoners are taken into account.
In mid-September, the famous lawyer and human rights lawyer Khaled Ali said that political activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah is thinking of committing suicide because of his desperation to get out of his prison and the increasing pressure on him, adding that he recommended that his mother prepare to receive condolences for him, but he retracted that after days and said that He will continue the march of patience and endurance.
Abdel Fattah's message recalled what activists reported at the beginning of last August about the attempt of political activists Abdel Rahman Tariq, known as "Mocha" and Mohamed Ibrahim "Oxygen", to commit suicide inside their prison.
According to former detainees and human rights defenders who spoke to Al Jazeera Net, suicide attempts have increased in recent months, but the news of many of them do not go beyond the prison walls, and only those attempts carried out by well-known activists or owners are known to publish and circulate their news.
Among the most prominent of these incidents is the suicide of Azhari teacher Osama Murad in April 2019, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In August of the same year, Khaled Hassan, a US citizen, attempted suicide, but the prison authorities managed to rescue him.
In mid-August, the Egyptian Network for Human Rights confirmed, on its Facebook page, that it was aware of several suicide attempts among inmates of Scorpion High Security Prison 1, in addition to the strike of a large number of detainees in it, due to the continuous restrictions, ban on visits and deprivation of exercise time.
Alaa, imprisonment and suicide
Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, university professor Laila Soueif (Abdel-Fattah's mother) says that the violations that occur with her son are not supposed to occur with any prisoner, whether political, criminal or remanded, noting that there are prisoners who have been prevented from visiting their parents for years.
Soueif considered that her son is imprisoned on fictitious charges because of his opposition to the regime.
Regarding the steps taken by the family to stop these violations, she explained that she had submitted a formal request to the Prisons Authority regarding the implementation of promises they had previously made but not implemented, which is to allow him to read and exercise, and also to demand his transfer from a high-security prison 2 because of a feud between him and the prison administration, specifically the national security officer who In it, Abdel-Fattah submitted complaints to the Public Prosecutor and the Inspection Department at the Ministry of Interior.
Umm Alaa explained that lawyer Khaled Ali will file a complaint against the prison administration to the prosecution, and the family will address all human rights authorities in Egypt as well as the concerned commissions of the United Nations.
This comes in conjunction with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's launch of the "first national strategy for human rights" in the middle of this month, which was followed by the president's announcement, during telephone statements to state television, that he would soon open a prison complex on Ali with an "American version" within the framework of "the state's policy to improve the conditions of prisoners," stressing The state does not want to double the prison sentence for prisoners at one time and with poor conditions inside prisons at another time.
"Yes, I thought of committing suicide like everyone else."
In order to get closer to the conditions of the detainees and the motives for suicide, Al Jazeera Net met with the former detainee, Shorouk Amjad, who confirmed that she had thought a lot about suicide in prison, especially after her first year, because of the despair of leaving, and the intransigence of Judge Hassan Farid against her.
She pointed out that the most difficult moment for her was the day of the death of the late President Mohamed Morsi in the courtroom, where she was renewed for 45 days without being presented to the court. It was making my mental state worse, and the only reason for my retreat was my family, I wasn't able to put them in that situation."
Shorouk added, "One day, the chief of investigation summoned me after he learned of my psychological condition and asked me: Do you want a psychiatrist, and I told him: No, because the psychiatrist who was shown some of the other detainees did not hear from them, and did not provide them with any statement."
She stressed that there are a large number of female detainees who wanted to commit suicide, especially those who were convicted, and some of them have already tried, such as a detainee sentenced to 15 years in prison, who actually tried but was rescued, and the prison administration's reaction was to put her in the disciplinary room.
The former prisoner stressed the role of the detainees' families, because there are families when visiting they complain a lot about the conditions and situations abroad, which causes greater psychological pressure on the detainees.
A failed attempt
Muhammad Mahmoud (a pseudonym) says: I tried to commit suicide inside the prison after the security refused to release me even though I was released, and forcibly hidden me for 4 months in a small cell with about 40 other disappeared, most of whom are elderly and sick, whom the prison administration refuses to treat. .
Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, the former detainee says that he was afraid of rotation, which is an expression given to the security fabricating a new case for whom the prosecution decided to release in the main case, adding, "I had no choice but to hang myself in a gallows in front of the administration, but they rescued me and sent me to another place until It was time for my hearing and I got a release and a final verdict after a year and a half of detention."
early obsessions
In this context, former detainee Saeed Shawky (pseudonym) reveals that the idea of suicide expands during the period of enforced disappearance prior to his appearance in the Public Prosecution Office, where the detainee is in the custody of the National Security Agency, during which he is exposed to severe psychological and physical trauma.
Shawqi explains, in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, that this intention is increasing after his success in stealing the opportunity to have a quick talk (basically forbidden) with those who preceded him from the detainees, when he learned that a number of them had spent months and perhaps years in the stage of enforced disappearance, without a clear end to this tunnel. , which exacerbates his psychological trauma.
However, he points out that despite the widening circle of suicidal thoughts during this stage, hardly anyone succeeds in carrying out the attempt, given that the detainee is handcuffed throughout that period, in addition to the lack of any aids, in addition to the intensity of supervision implemented in the National Security cells.
He points out that these thoughts recede greatly in the detainee after he was shown and presented to the prosecution and the period of detention began in a well-known prison, where hopes for a quick release rise, this enhances the support of former detainees and the start of family visits and communication with lawyers.
However, these thoughts leak again to the same prison, whose detention period is long, exceeding 6 months, and the longer the period and the accumulation of various pressures, from family and material problems, the wider the circle of thoughts of suicide among a number of detainees, which ends with dozens of failed attempts that do not It goes out in public and others end in death, according to the former detainee.
Causes and methods of suicide
Shawky believes that the most important reasons for the recent increase in suicide attempts are entering into the cycle of “recycling” and suffering crises and psychological diseases resulting from the well-known prison pressures, and the presence of large numbers of “ordinary” detainees who do not have political affiliations, pointing out that most of the attempts are made by young people under the age of forty. .
The former detainee reveals that the most prominent means of suicide used in prisons are cutting an artery with a sharp instrument, trying to make a noose from clothes and the like that are available to the detainee, in addition to taking pills in large quantities, or ingesting chemicals such as chlorine and the like.
He points out that one of the worst repercussions of these attempts is what the prison administration follows in dealing with the matter, which is the complete ban of the method that was resorted to by attempting to commit suicide, which affects the livelihood of the remaining detainees.
In this context, Shawky points out that the prison administration removed all the cell fans in the summer, after a suicide attempt in which the suicide bomber relied on his cell fan, which led to many cases of suffocation as a result of the high temperature.
Psychologists: Treatment starts with the causes
Regarding the psychological reasons that push detainees to commit suicide, psychiatrist and human rights activist Aida Seif Al-Dawla says: There are objective reasons that do not necessarily indicate the presence of mental illness, but rather psychological symptoms of losing hope and logic in continuing life as it is, adding that the detainee who seeks to commit suicide A person who suffers from psychological pain of a degree of severity that makes him feel that continuing to live is more difficult for him than death.
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, the psychological expert confirmed that some of those who think about suicide may talk about losing hope and their distress in life, feeling injustice and searching for salvation, but they may also be silent, thinking about it and making the decision in silence and implementing it in silence, so silence in itself Or even acting normally is not an indication that the idea of suicide is far from this or that person's mind.
She pointed out that the prevention of suicide requires that the detainee not have conditions that would motivate him to do so. Deprived of his freedom, of his loved ones and friends, of good food and decent treatment, and of being subjected to humiliation and abuse in the absence of a mechanism that enables him to defend himself, is in fact a person who is pushed by circumstances to think about suicide. Suicide is a way out.
The detainee who contemplates suicide usually also feels guilt towards his family because he feels that this represents a source of anxiety and suffering for them, and may conclude from this that his death may relieve them of this suffering.
Therefore, the psychological expert demands that there be communication with the detainee, sharing his pain, and talking to him about his thoughts and what drives him to them and what may dissuade him from them, which is something that the authorities unfortunately withhold from the detainees and those who play this role in fact are the rest of the detainees with him, they are the main source of support and support and they are the most people Realizing the magnitude of the suffering that may lead someone to choose death over any better possibilities that the days may bring.
In turn, Mahmoud Ismail, a specialist in psychiatry, neurology and addiction, confirms that one of the causes of suicide is severe turmoil, explaining that there are symptoms that appear on the person who wants to commit suicide, which are loneliness, isolation, severe depression, lack of speech and sleep, loss of appetite, introversion and lack of interest in outward appearance.
Speaking to Al-Jazeera Net, Ismail demanded psychological support for the person who shows symptoms of depression, calling on the families of the detainees to visit their families periodically, encourage them to complete the study while they are imprisoned, and demand that they be referred to a psychiatrist.
The Egyptian Ministry of Interior issues a statement denying the existence of suicide cases among detainees in Al-Aqrab prison, and the fact is that this statement is expected from the Public Prosecution, the prison supervising authority, and not from the accused Ministry of Interior, and because the detainees entered prison by order of the Public Prosecutor, who is primarily responsible for their lives and health and any violations directed against them
— Jamal Sultan (@GamalSultan1) August 12, 2021
legal status
On the relationship of laws and regulations to suicide in prisons, the Executive Director of the Egyptian Network for Human Rights Ahmed Al-Attar says: There is no complete inventory of the number of suicide attempts, but the matter has become more dangerous in the last stage, explaining that the difficulty of counting is due to several reasons, most notably that the authorities always deny the occurrence of any suicide attempts. Cases of suicide as a result of deliberate neglect to prevent medication and treatment, and also because of the detainees' reluctance to speak so as not to cause psychological pain to the families.
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Al-Attar drew attention to the case of the Sinai child, Abdullah Bou Mediene, whose attempt to commit suicide in the second police station of Al-Arish documented by the Egyptian Network for Human Rights, by swallowing a large number of pills, but he was rescued, explaining that it is difficult to count the numbers of those who carried out operations suicide.
The human rights activist believes that the authorities have not dealt seriously and firmly with the news of the increase in suicide attempts, as they have the ability to relieve pressure and violations and release tens of thousands of detainees held in unjustified pre-trial detention, and the Public Prosecution does not take decisive measures against those responsible for these violations, as he described it. .
distress message
In turn, Salma Ashraf, director of HUMAN RIGHTS MONITOR, believes that the release of many detainees with diseases, some of which are serious, and they were not infected with them when they were arrested, gives an indication of what might prompt some to attempt suicide, considering that the keenness to release news of these attempts represents SOS message: "If you don't save us, we will kill ourselves."
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Salma confirmed that the detainees' lack of pressure means, such as a strike, is the most prominent factor in the increase in suicide attempts, and represents a last attempt to draw attention, with a feeling that death is a better option than continuing in these difficult circumstances.
The human rights defender and journalist Haitham Abu Khalil agrees with the previous opinion regarding the detainees' loss of the means to pressure the authorities to improve their conditions, foremost among which are the strikes that no party pays attention to, with any prospect of resolving the detainees' situation blocked.
Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Abu Khalil pointed out that the extreme scarcity of police evictions and political pardons against political detainees, in exchange for the widening of this circle against criminals, played a major role in the despair that the detainees reached, which prompts them to attempt suicide.