Committee for Justice
Geneva: November 17, 2022
The Committee for Justice (CFJ) has documented the deaths of four detainees, including a former MP, in the first two weeks of November in Egypt. The deaths highlight a humanitarian catastrophe in Egyptian prisons resulting from deteriorating conditions in jails and lack of medical care.
Alaa Muhammad Abd al-Nabi al-Selmi:
CFJ documented the death of the detainee, Alaa Muhammad Abd al-Nabi al-Selmi (47 years old), on November 1. A law graduate, al-Salami hailed from Alexandria governorate. He died inside his detention center in Badr 3 prison.
Al-Selmi was arrested in 2014, and was handed a life sentence on April 30, 2019 by the Cairo Criminal Court, in connection with Case No. 610 of 2014. He was initially imprisoned in the notorious Aqrab prison and banned from visits for years, then he was transferred this year to Badr prison, where his family was informed of his death.
Shaaban Muhammad Sayed Al-Khouli:
On November 14, the detainee Shaaban Muhammad Sayed al-Khouli, known as Shaaban Shabaka (56 years old), died inside Sadat Hospital. He was a public school teacher, and hailed, from the city of Mattai, Minya governorate.
Al-Khouli was an inmate in Al-Qanater prison, and he was transferred to the hospital two days prior to his death as a result of his suffering from high blood pressure.
Majdi Abdo Al-Shabrawi:
Magdy Abdo Al-Shabrawy (58 years old) died on November 15 in Badr Prison. He is from Mansoura, Dakahlia governorate. He was the owner and director of the Zahret al-Madaen bookstore.
He was arrested for the first time on the day of the dispersal of the sit-in in Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square, on 14 August 2013, then spent several months in prison between a number of police stations and prisons, before obtaining a release from the Public Prosecution pending investigations on March 14, 2014.
On September 8, 2018, the Cairo Criminal Court issued a ruling to imprison him in absentia for a period of 15 years in Case No. 34150 of 2015, known in the media as “the dispersal of the Rabaa sit-in.” He remained at large for years until he was arrested on January 4, 2020, and imprisoned in Aqrab prison. He had since been banned from receiving visits.
On May 12, 2022, during a retrial, the Second Terrorism Circuit in the Cairo Criminal Court handed him a 15-year rigorous prison sentence. In recent months, he was transferred from his Aqrab prison to the Badr 3 “correctional and rehabilitation center.”
Ahmed Mahmoud Mohamed Ibrahim:
CFJ also documented the death of the former MP and Secretary-General of the Freedom and Justice Party in Suez, Ahmed Mahmoud Mohamed Ibrahim (56 years old), on November 16, in Sadat Hospital, to which he was transferred from Wadi el-Natrun prison, where he was suffering from Kidney failure.
Ibrahim was arrested on December 19, 2015, and a military tribunal sentenced him to 15 years on charges of inciting violence.
Detailed documentation of deaths inside detention centers in Egypt:
In addition to these cases, CFJ had previously documented the death of six detainees inside detention centers and headquarters in Egypt since July 1, 2022.
Through its platform Justice Watch Archive, CFJ has documented 1163 deaths inside detention facilities and prisons in Egypt since 2013.
In 2021, CFJ documented 62 deaths inside detention facilities and prisons in Egypt, through its detailed report on violations inside detention facilities in Egypt last year.
CFJ’s first quarterly report in 2022 also documented five deaths inside detention facilities and prisons in Egypt.
