Press release
Translated and edited by: Committee for Justice
Geneva: February 20, 2023
The Committee for Justice has documented a new death of a detainee inside the Zagazig police station in Egypt, which is the second death in 2023 of a detainee inside an official detention facility.
Medical negligence despite suffering from cancer:
The 42-year-old Mahmoud Abd al-Shafi al-Didamoni worked as a blacksmith in the village of Bani Amer in Zagazig governorate. He was imprisoned pending arrest warrant No. 2133 of 2021, the Zagazig prison station, on charges of a political nature.
CFJ stated that although Al-Didamoni was suffering from cancer, the administration of the Zagazig police station didn’t provide any medical care for him, and he was held in poor detention conditions that lacked the lowest internationally recognized human rights standards.
CFJ added that the detainee, who died as a result of his deteriorating health condition, was transferred from his prison in Zagazig Police Station to Zagazig General Hospital, where he died.
Not the first case:
In late January, the Committee for Justice documented the death of detainee Sameh Tolba Saleh Al-Zaq (53 years old), in the same police station, due to the deterioration of his health as a result of his two-month detention after the end of his two-year prison sentence.
It is worth noting that CFJ has documented, through its platform Justice Watch Archive, 1163 deaths inside detention facilities and prisons in Egypt since 2013.
