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Egypt: CFJ Documents New Violations Against Political Detainees in Wadi El-Natrun Prison (Rehabilitation 5) and Calls for Their Cessation and Investigation

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The Committee for Justice (CFJ) has documented blatant new violations against detainees held on political charges in Wadi El-Natrun Prison (Rehabilitation 5), carried out by a group of prison officers.

Sources from inside the prison reported that officers Ahmed Essam (State Security Officer at the prison), Colonel Rami Khalaf (Head of the Prisons Authority), Mohamed Zewail (Head of Prison Investigations), and Mohamed Hamza (Prison Investigations Officer) are deliberately increasing detainees’ suffering by committing these violations against them.

According to the sources, these officers are denying medical treatment to detainees, preventing them from being transferred to the prison hospital, and have ordered that family visits be reduced to just 15 minutes, conducted solely through a glass partition.

Additionally, they have refused to allow detainees’ families to provide them with winter clothing or blankets, while also restricting outdoor exercise to only two days a week, during which detainees must remain shackled in iron restraints.

CFJ stresses that these coordinated actions by the officers violate international treaties and conventions to which Egypt is a signatory and is obligated to uphold. They also violate Egypt’s prison regulations.

CFJ calls on the Egyptian authorities, including the Ministry of Interior and the Prisons Authority, to immediately halt these abuses, allow detainees to receive medical treatment, clothing, and blankets from their families or provide them with adequate supplies, ensure daily exercise without restraints, and restore family visit regulations in accordance with prison laws.

Furthermore, CFJ urges the Egyptian authorities to conduct an impartial, transparent, and swift investigation into these violations, hold the responsible officers and their accomplices accountable, and ensure that they do not escape justice.

For more information and media requests or inquiries, please get in touch with us (+41229403538 / media@cfjustice.org)

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