Press release
Geneva – May 21, 2024
The “Committee for Justice” (CFJ) has monitored the 19th death in Egyptian detention facilities this year. The deceased, Sadiq Abdel Rahman Sadiq El Sharkawy, a 74-year-old political detainee, passed away due to poor detention conditions and deliberate medical neglect in the 10th of Ramadan Prison in Al-Sharqiya.
El Sharkawy, from Nasr City in Cairo, was a renowned businessman, a pioneer in the Arabization of computer software globally, and a board member of the Engineering Company for the Development of Computer Systems (RDI). He was also a prominent member of the Muslim Brotherhood and the chairman of the
“Misr 25” channel. He was initially arrested at his Cairo home on September 12, 2013, released, and then re-arrested in December 2020. El Sharkawy had faced several charges and was previously imprisoned during the Mubarak regime.
The “Committee for Justice” calls for a prompt, transparent, and impartial investigation into the circumstances surrounding El Sharkawy’s death and holds those responsible for his medical neglect accountable.
CFJ urges the Egyptian Public Prosecution to fulfill its legal duty to monitor detention facilities and prisons, ensuring detainees receive adequate living conditions and healthcare, especially for the sick and elderly.
Additionally, CFJ implores the Egyptian authorities to improve the living standards in detention facilities and adhere to international treaties and UN conventions, particularly the Nelson Mandela Rules for the treatment of prisoners.
This latest death raises the total number of fatalities documented by CFJ in Egyptian prisons and detention centers since the beginning of 2024 to 19. The previous case involved Hisham Mohamed Ahmed Radwan, a mathematics teacher from Mallawi in Minya Governorate, who died in Minya’s new prison. Radwan had been detained on political charges since 2016.
Accurate information about death cases during detention in Egypt can be obtained through the Justice Watch Archive service provided by CFJ, which contains information about more than 14,000 victims and over 30,000 violations. It also monitors violations inside more than 500 places of detention in Egypt
