CAIRO (Reuters) – A new prison which Egypt touted as a model for reform and which holds some of its most prominent prisoners denies inmates healthcare and subjects them to punitive treatment including isolation, relatives of those inside and rights groups say.
Many of the inmates now in Badr prison on the outskirts of Cairo were moved from Tora, an older facility in a southern suburb of the city that held prisoners including leaders of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and other political activists.
Rights groups estimate tens of thousands of people have been jailed for political dissent under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and have long reported abuses including systemic torture and life threatening conditions inside its jails.
The government, which says it does not hold prisoners for political reasons, did not respond to requests for comment for this article. In the past it has denied charges of abuses and has said it is working on improving conditions by reducing prisoner density at its jails and modernizing facilities.
The authorities took journalists, including a reporter from Reuters, on a tour of Badr last year, a move critics view as part of a government bid to bat away criticism of its rights record and to draw in more investment and aid flows.
Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, a former presidential candidate in 2012, was detained in 2018 and is among those moved from Tora to the Badr 1 wing at the new prison.
“It was supposed to be at least on the same level but since the transfer, no, it’s much harder, the situation is worse and there’s no justification,” said his son, Hozaifa Aboul Fotouh.
He said his 71-year-old father spent 12 days in the same clothes in the new prison and no longer has the mattress he previously had at Tora to support his back. He said he had been denied enough blankets to fend off the winter cold.
Rights groups and relatives detail other abuses, although several of those spoken to by Reuters said it was harder for them to get information about conditions from Badr, where they said prisoners were largely held incommunicado, than from Tora. Several asked not to be named for fear of reprisals. Reuters has only been able to access Egyptian prisons on official tours.
Four prisoners died at the Badr facility because of medical negligence last year, including a 47-year-old Alaa el-Salmy who was on hunger strike for two months over prison conditions, according to the rights groups Egyptian Front for Human Rights (EFHR) and Egyptian Network for Human Rights (ENHR).