The Egyptian Network for Human Rights along with Shehab Center and We Record for Human Rights declared the death of ex-parliamentarian, Hesham al-Qadi Hanafi, 62 years, in the disreputable Scorpion prison. Hanafi was arrested last March after he had previously spent 4 years in detention between February 2014 and July 2018.

According to the human rights organizations, Hanafi was suffering from several chronic diseases, which deteriorated due to the awful detention conditions and the lack of medical care in prison.  

Hanafi was elected as a member of the Egyptian parliament in 2005, and as a senator in 2013, as a representative of Qous city in Qena. Hanafi’s brother, Abu Bakr, died in November 2014 in Qena prison after he suffered from cancer.

Hanafi’s death is the fifth death case among political detainees in December and the 49th during 2021, while 2020 had witnessed 79 deaths of political detainees according to the Egyptian Network. Over the past 7 years under Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, 77 detainees died in Egyptian prisons.