Human Rights Violations in Egyptian Prisons and the Need for Oversight

By: Michael Bechtel

A recent string of stories coming from prisons in Egypt has highlighted an issue regarding the cruel and inhumane treatment of individuals held at several of the country’s prisons.[1] As a result of the deaths of many prisoners and the cruel treatment of many others, many rights groups are calling for investigations and inspections of Egypt’s prisons as well as international and independent oversight of those prisons.[2]

Some of the most severe instances that have recently captured the attention of human rights groups have been the deaths of many prominent detainees, including former president Mohamed Morsi,[3] Hossam Hamed,[4] and Egyptian-American national Mustafa Kassem.[5] Former president Morsi’s death is thought to be the result of intentional medical neglect while in prison.[6] Testimonies have indicated that Hamed had been physically assaulted by guards while in solitary confinement and appeared to have been tortured while at Al-Aqrab prison.[7] Kassem’s recent death came as a result of heart failure following a hunger strike protesting the inhumane conditions of his incarceration.[8] The number of deaths of prisoners in Egypt has been increasing, and a large number of these deaths have been said to be the result of medical negligence and torture.[9]

Additionally, detainees at prisons in Cairo and Alexandria have allegedly not been allowed visits from family members, friends, or lawyers for over two years.[10] This denial of visitation has led many detainees at Al-Aqrab prison to go on a hunger strike, which in turn prompted the authorities to retaliate to coerce the detainees to end the strike by subjecting the detainees to punishments, beatings, disciplinary measures, and electric shocks with tasers.[11] In addition, many of the detainees are kept in insect-infested, overcrowded cells that lack proper ventilation and are deprived of access to adequate and appropriate health care.[12] In one case, Dr. Abdel Moneim Aboul-Fotouh has been held in solitary confinement for over a year despite his medical conditions and need for urgent medical attention.[13] Yet another source has alleged that an individual, Khairat El-Shater, held at Al-Aqrab prison suffering from colon cancer is being denied urgent medical care, even at his own expense.[14]

Najia Bounaim, North Africa Campaigns Director at Amnesty International, one of the prominent human rights groups calling for investigations into Egypt’s prisons, has recently called for an “independent and impartial investigation into [the] shocking torture allegations” regarding detainees Alaa Abdel Fattah and Mohamed El-Baqer.[15] Fattah, a blogger and activist, and El-Baqer, an attorney, director of Adala Center for Rights and Freedoms, and well-known human rights defender, were arrested on September 29, 2019.[16] Fattah has been subject to torture, abuse, and beatings while at Al Aqrab prison, and El-Baqer has likewise been subject to cruel treatment.[17] For both Fattah and El-Baquer, Bounaim has stated that the abuse they have both been subjected to merely for their critique of governments and defense of victims of human rights violations is an “illustration of Egypt’s utter disregard for human rights.”[18]

The cruel and inhumane conditions that the prisoners in Al-Aqrab are subject to, including the torture, medical neglect, inhumane conditions, degrading treatment, and refusal to allow detainees to be visited by their families and lawyers, is in complete disregard of international law.[19] Egypt is a United Nations member state[20] and was one of the forty-eight countries that voted in favor of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.[21] Article five of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “[n]o one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”[22] It was in recognition of this standard that the General Assembly drafted the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Mandela Rules).[23]

The General Assembly adopted the Mandela Rules in 2015,[24] but notes that the Mandela Rules are non-binding, acknowledging the variety of the various Member States’ legal frameworks.[25] Though the Mandela Rules are not binding, they “set out what is generally accepted as being good principles and practice in the treatment of prisoners and prison management” and represent “the minimum conditions which are accepted as suitable by the United Nations.”[26]

The Mandela Rules state that both indefinite and prolonged solitary confinement shall be prohibited because they “amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”[27] “Prolonged solitary confinement” is defined in the Mandela Rules as solitary confinement that lasts for more than fifteen consecutive days.[28] The Mandela Rules additionally state that those held in prisons should be permitted to be visited by friends and family “at regular intervals.”[29] The Mandela Rules also state that prisons must provide timely access to medical services when there is an urgent need and that those who require specialized medical treatment or surgery should be transferred either to civil hospitals or specialized institutions.[30]

The practices by the Egyptian authorities at these prisons completely disregards the principles supported by both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Mandela Rules.[31] Even though the Mandela Rules are not binding on any United Nations member state,[32] as a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Egypt should attempt to conform their practices to those principles of not subjecting prisoners “to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”[33] An imminent “international and independent oversight and inspection of Egypt’s prisons” appears essential to ensure that those detained at Egypt’s prisons do not continue to be victims of violations of human rights.[34]

#Egypt #HumanRights #PrisonRights #BlogPost #MichaelBechtel

[1] Egypt: Rights Groups Renew Demand for Red Cross Oversight of Prisons, Cairo Inst. for Hum. Rts. Stud. (CIHRS), https://cihrs.org/egypt-rights-groups-renew-demand-for-red-cross-oversight-of-prisons/?lang=en (last visited Jan. 17, 2020) [hereinafter Rights Groups Renew Demand].

[2] Rights Groups Renew Demand, supra note 1; Egypt: Calls for Investigation into Death in Custody of Al-Aqrab Prisoner, Amnesty Int’l (Aug. 23, 2019), https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/08/egypt-calls-for-investigation-into-death-in-custody-of-al-aqrab-prisoner/ [hereinafter Calls for Investigation].

[3] Egypt: Red Cross Oversight of Prisons Demanded by Rights Groups Following Morsi’s Death, Cairo Inst. for Hum. Rts. Stud. (CIHRS) (June 19, 2019), https://cihrs.org/egypt-red-cross-oversight-of-prisons-demanded-by-rights-groups-following-morsis-death/?lang=en [hereinafter Morsi’s Death].

[4] Calls for Investigation, supra note 2.

[5] Rights Groups Renew Demand, supra note 1.

[6] Morsi’s Death, supra note 3.

[7] Calls for Investigation, supra note 2.

[8] Rights Groups Renew Demand, supra note 1; Jennifer Hansler, US Citizen Detained in Egypt for More Than 6 Years Has Died, CNN (Jan.14, 2020, 6:46AM), https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/13/politics/mustafa-kassem-death/index.html.

[9] Rights Groups Renew Demand, supra note 1.

[10] See Amnesty Calls on Egypt to End ‘Cruel and Inhumane Detention Conditions’, Jurist (Aug. 1, 2019, 2:35PM), https://www.jurist.org/news/2019/08/amnesty-calls-on-egypt-to-end-cruel-and-inhumane-detention-conditions/ [hereinafter Amnesty Calls on Egypt]; Egypt: End the Cruel Denial of Family Visits to Detainees, Amnesty Int’l (Feb. 15, 2019, 11:32), https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/02/egypt-end-the-cruel-denial-of-family-visits-to-detainees/.

[11] Egypt: Mass Hunger Strike at Al-Aqrab Prison Over Denial of Family Visits and Dire Conditions, Amnesty Int’l (July 31, 2019, 1:01), https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/07/egypt-mass-hunger-strike-at-al-aqrab-prison-over-denial-of-family-visits-and-dire-conditions/ [hereinafter Mass Hunger Strike].

[12] Amnesty Calls on Egypt, supra note 10.

[13] Morsi’s Death, supra note 3.

[14] Egypt Refuses to Treat Senior Brotherhood Prisoner, Even at His Own Expense, Middle East Monitor (June 26, 2019, 11:54AM), https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190626-egypt-refuses-to-treat-senior-brotherhood-prisoner-even-at-his-own-expense/.

[15] Egypt: Torture of Activist Alaa Abdel Fattah Illustrates Use of Extreme Brutality to Crush Dissent, Amnesty International (Oct. 10, 2019, 5:08PM), https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/10/egypt-torture-of-activist-alaa-abdel-fattah-illustrates-use-of-extreme-brutality-to-crush-dissent/.

[16] Id.

[17] Id.

[18] Id.

[19] Mass Hunger Strike, supra note 11; Rights Groups Renew Demand, supra note 1.

[20] Member States, UN, https://www.un.org/en/member-states/ (last visited Jan. 25, 2020).

[21] International Bill of Human Rights: Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Resolution/Adopted by the General Assembly, United Nat’l Digital Libr., https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/670964?ln=en&p=Resolution+217%28III%29+A (last visited Jan. 25, 2020).

[22] G.A. Res. 217(III) A, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 5 (Dec. 10, 1948).

[23] See G.A. Res. 70/175, United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Neslon Mandela Rules), at 1 (Dec. 17, 2015).

[24] Id. at 5, ¶ 5.

[25] Id. at 5, ¶ 8.

[26] Id. at 7.

[27] Id. at 16, Rule 43(1)(a), (b).

[28] Id. at 16, Rule 44.

[29] Id. at 16, Rule 58(b).

[30] Id. at 16, Rule 27.

[31] G.A. Res. 217(III) A, supra note 22, art. 5; G.A. Res. 70/175, supra note 23.

[32] G.A. Res. 70/175, supra note 23, at 5, ¶ 8.

[33] G.A. Res. 217(III) A, supra note 22, art. 5.

[34] Rights Groups Renew Demand, supra note 1.