When former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi died after collapsing in a defendant’s cage in a Cairo courtroom this June, the world’s attention turned to the dire prison conditions in Egypt.
Morsi had been denied necessary medical attention, possibly meeting the threshold for torture in Egyptian and international law, according to a report published by an independent review panel in March 2018.
Two weeks later, former presidential candidate and leading opposition figure, Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, suffered a double heart attack in prison, where he has been since February 2018.
Morsi’s son, Abdullah, has accused Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and other officials of “killing” his father, while Aboul Fotouh’s son, Ahmed, wrote on Facebook that his father may succumb to the “deliberate” abuse in Cairo’s Torah prison “at any time”.
Shortly before Aboul Fotouh suffered the heart attacks, the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights and the Adalah Center for Rights and Freedoms submitted a petition to the Egyptian public prosecutor concerning his “deteriorating health condition” and demanded urgent intervention but he was denied adequate medical treatment.
The UK-based Arab Organisation for Human Rights reports that over 700 Egyptian prisoners have died of medical negligence since 2011.