CAIRO (MEMO) – Egypt should release the detained academic Salah Soltan who is at risk of death and ensure he has access to life-saving health care, 51 human rights organizations have said on Wednesday. Soltan was arrested following the 2013 coup then sentenced to life in prison four years later in a mass trial with no due process. Authorities did not give credible evidence for the charges against him. The Islamic scholar is being held in Badr 1 prison, which was recently labeled a “slaughterhouse” by human rights groups because there have been so many suicide attempts due to the poor conditions people are held in.

In a letter Soltan wrote that was leaked in March, he said that he had not been allowed access to appropriate health care despite suffering from life-threatening heart and liver diseases.