CAIRO (MEMO) – Prominent opposition figure Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh has written his will and included it in a letter to his family as his health continues to deteriorate with no adequate medical care from prison authorities.
“In a letter my dad wrote his will today and said his health is as it was, praying to God for a good end,” his son Ahmed posted on Facebook.
Addressing his father directly, he continued: “We did everything to try to stop the injustice you are suffering, the reprisals against you and your murder in cold blood at the hands of people who don’t know what honor is. So, we put our trust in God’s hands, the Most Merciful, may He show kindness to you and rescue you.”
The post comes less than a week after the leader of the Strong Egypt Party suffered his fourth heart attack in prison.
Aboul Fotouh, who is in his seventies, was arrested in 2018 after criticizing the government and calling for a boycott of the presidential elections in a series of media interviews.
He was added to the terror list, had a travel ban imposed on him, and his assets were frozen. Inside prison he has been held in solitary confinement without adequate access to sunlight and fresh air.
With access to the prison library prohibited, no TV, books or magazine, his family says he is being abused in prison mentally and physically.
Aboul Fotouh was held in pretrial detention since his arrest, beyond the two-year limit stipulated by Egyptian law, until his court case in the spring of this year.
In May he was sentenced to 15 years in a maximum-security prison for “founding a terror organization.” He suffers from heart disease, advanced prostate disease and kidney and bladder stones.
His son, who has been outspoken about his father’s treatment in prison, has said he is being subjected to “slow murder” in jail.
In January UN experts expressed grave concern over Aboul Fotouh’s poor health and called on Egyptian authorities to provide updated and detailed information on the Strong Party leader.