Egypt Watch

Despite the Ministry of Interior’s denial, a rights group documents the death of a prisoner inside Gamasa prison

On Sunday, the Egyptian Network for Human Rights said that a 22-year-old criminal prisoner, Mohamed Saad El-Din El-Koumi, had died in the high-security Gamasa prison.

The rights group said his family was informed of his death on Saturday during a prison visit. However, they did not tell them the timing or cause of death.

According to official papers, the death resulted from a sharp drop in blood circulation. However, according to sources for the rights group, the death occurred due to torture. The rights group had said protests escalated inside Gamasa prison after the deaths of inmates. It added that the prison administration called riot police to control the situation. It also published a video clip showing fires burning in cells while someone shouted that the administration killed ten people.

The Ministry of Interior issued a brief statement denying “the allegations that there were deaths as a result of a fire inside a correctional and rehabilitation centre.” The rights group said it had received calls for help and complaints from families of prisoners in various detention centres that their relatives had been tortured. It added that the administration of Liman Wadi al-Natrun 430 prisons denied visits to prisoners and tortured many of them.