Seven years of revenge and abuse is the period of time that former Minister of Supply Bassem Odah has been in solitary confinement since the military coup in Egypt in 2013.

The case of Bassem Odah reappeared after the former minister’s wife appealed to stop preventing her from visiting him, which has been for four years now. His wife said in a post on her personal Facebook page: “On this day, 9/11, 2016, Dr. Bassem’s last visit was in his prison in the farm attachment prison. For four consecutive years, he was banned from [visits].” After the circulation of her message, a hashtag entitled Freedom of the Minister of the Poor, as citizens and activists in Egypt call him, was issued, demanding the release of Bassem Odah and the cessation of the campaign of harassment and systematic revenge against him.

Bassem Odah’s wife, Mrs. Hanan Tawfiq, did not give up on writing about him on an almost daily basis, through the hashtags of freedom for Bassem Odah, and Bassem Odah has the right to see his children. Hanan Tawfiq has not visited her husband, who has been held incommunicado for more than four years, as a number of detainees from the Tora Farm and Mazraa Extension prisons were prevented from visiting permanently. The last time Hanan saw her husband was about a year and a half ago, and this happened during one of his court sessions, as this was the only way to see him throughout these years.

The families of political detainees in Egypt have been suffering from the difficulty of visiting their relatives since the emergence of the coronavirus, as the visits were only authorised once a month and for only one family member. The visit is booked by calling a phone number. Families find it very difficult to make and confirm the reservation, in addition to the authorities prohibiting the entry of any medicine or clothes to the detainees under the pretext of precautionary measures.

The minister of the poor

Seven years of solitary confinement and four years of preventing visits, this is how al-Sisi and his military regime have taken revenge on Basem Odah, who was described by opponents and supporters as the most successful minister in the history of Egypt. Odah’s defence confirmed that the former Minister of Supply had been forced into political issues and harassed in revenge for his refusal to participate in the first government after the military coup that occurred on 3 July 2013.

Activists and tweeters remember the boom that Bassem Odah oversaw in the Ministry of Supply during his assumption of the ministry under the rule of Mohamed Morsi, the first elected civilian president in the history of Egypt. Odah succeeded in creating a bread system that delivered subsidies to those who deserve it and controlled commodity prices in the market, and succeeded in eliminating chronic problems such as the crisis of gas and edible oil pipelines.

In the context of the ruling military regime’s revenge on Bassem Odah, he was prevented in 2015 from attending the funeral of his father, as the authorities refused at the time appeals to allow him to attend the funeral. In 2017, activists on social media circulated a clip of Odah, in which he talks about violations and abuse in prison. During the hearing of one of the cases, Odah talked about the farm prison authorities preventing him of the right to visit and see his family and his solitary confinement for four consecutive years, which has now reached seven years.

Solitary confinement

Observers confirmed that the authorities offered Bassem Odah to continue in his post after the military coup against the late President Mohamed Morsi. Still, Odah refused that offer, which increased al-Sisi’s anger against him. The authorities use solitary confinement in Egyptian prisons arbitrarily in the case of disciplining criminal prisoners, and systematically to avenge political opponents and to harass and punish them. Many of those detained for political reasons continue to be held incommunicado for indefinite periods of time, which is extended for years at a time without regard to the stipulations of the constitution and laws regarding the regulation of the periods of solitary confinement.

International human rights law, as a reference in legal issues related to these humanitarian crises, criminalises torture in the form of prolonged solitary confinement and intentional medical neglect. The International Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners have also criminalised it.