Abdel-Razek said during the interrogation he received inhumane and degrading treatment in his cell that puts his health and safety in danger. He further elaborated that he was never allowed out of the cell, had only a metal bed to sleep on with neither mattress nor covers, save for a light blanket, was deprived of all his possessions and money, was given only two light pieces of summer garments, and was denied the right to use his own money to purchase food and essentials from the prison’s cantine. His head was shaved completely.
Press Releases & News
South Cairo Criminal court issued yesterday its decision on Patrick’s hearing session, renewing his remand detention for an additional 45 day pending the investigation in the case 7245/2019. The hearing was held yesterday in Patrick’s presence and the presence of his lawyers from EIPR. Patrick has already spent more than 9 months in remand detention.
In an unprecedented escalation for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, a security force arrested Mohamed Bashseer, the Administrative Manager at EIPR from his home after midnight on Sunday the 15th and detained him for more than 12 hours
Once again the prison administration failed to transfer Patrick Zaki citing a force majeure event. Patrick was scheduled for a detention renewal session on Sunday June 28 that was meant to take place for the first time before a Criminal Court panel from a counter-terrorism circuit, which sits at the Tora Subofficers Training Institute. But once again we saw a repeat of what has become the norm over the last three months, following the April 28 decision by the head of the Cairo Appellate Court to resume detention renewal sessions without the presence of defendants in criminal cases
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) called on the Ministry of Interior and the Prisons Authority to assume their legal responsibility in providing the simplest forms of human contact in light of the continued suspension of visits for prisoners’ families, consistent with the rights stipulated in the Prison Regulation Law. EIPR demanded that the ministry and the Prisons Authority allow detainees and prisoners to communicate with their families and lawyers.
EIPR calls on the Egyptian authorities not to exempt detention facilities and prisons from measures taken to reduce crowding and limit the spread of the virus, including police vehicles used to transfer people arrested for violating curfew and closure measures. When enforcing these legal measures, the authorities should always consider their primary objective—protecting lives and minimizing gatherings and density.
We want to take this chance to reaffirm that there are many more people in remand and pre-trial detention that the Prosecution should release for their own protection as well as the protection of the whole society, consistent with the other measures taken in response to the Covid19 crisis.
EIPR’s lawyers were able to obtain a confirmation today, 9 March 2020 from Supreme State Security Investigations (SSSP) that Patrick’s next renewal hearing is scheduled for Saturday 21 March.
His family were attempting to visit him today, 5 March 2020, on the first regular visit scheduled for pre-trial detainees; only to find that he was once again moved to Tora in Cairo. We have not been able to establish yet which of the various detention facilities within the Tora Prison Complex he will be held in, since he was only moved this morning.
Patrick was subsequently transferred from the prosecutor’s office to Talkha Police Station, but his family was surprised to learn yesterday the 24th of February that he was moved to Mansoura Public Prison. Previously The Public Prosecutor had decided to remand Patrick for 15 further days on his scheduled detention renewal hearing (which took place on Saturday the 22nd of February).
EIPR asks the Public Prosecutor to release Patrick George Zaki immediately, and the investigative authorities to close the investigation and dismiss the case, for we do not see any basis for criminal prosecution.
We ask the Public Prosecutor to release Patrick George Zaki immediately, and the investigative authorities to close the investigation and dismiss the case, for we do not see any basis for criminal prosecution.
EIPR expresses extreme shock at the death of former president Mohamed Morsi as a result of the failure of Egyptian authorities to provide him necessary medical treatment. The wilful failure to provide adequate health care amounts to murder by neglect, according to the Egyptian penal code as well as international human rights standards.
Over the past few years, prison authorities in Egypt has been increasingly selling prisoners’ most basic needs—those that the prison authorities are required to provide by law—at exorbitant prices for the sake of the prisons’ canteen’s profit.
EIPR recommends that all places of detention regulated by the Egyptian Prison authorities guarantee sentenced prisoners’ bimonthly and pretrial detainees weekly right to 60 minute visits—without a glass barrier or any other additional constraints.
The undersigned organizations condemn the use of the Aqrab facility as a place to hold and abuse its inmates, as the prison is known to be a site of collective punishment. Although it was established as a prison for dangerous offenders, numerous people detained in connection with political cases are held in the prison, and it is notorious for its systematic violation of prisoners’ rights and inhumane conditions.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) calls for the immediate release of Ola Qardawi and her husband Hossam Khalaf and the disclosure of the charges their arrest was premised on.
The undersigned human rights organizations and political parties express their deep concern about the Egyptian authorities' intention to start investigations with the two judges Assem Abd al-Gabbar and Hesham Raouf, for allegedly engaging in polit
The Aqrab Prison has become the site of systematic violations that make it the worst prison in Egypt. Violations include medical neglect, excessive disciplinary penalties such as long-term solitary confinement, and the denial of family visits.
“Detention Without End,” a report that highlights the at least 1,464 people held in Egyptian prisons pending trial for periods that have exceeded the legal limit . Article 143 of the Code of Criminal Procedure sets a ceiling on pretrial detention of 18 months to 2 years in criminal cases.
