Egypt Muslim Brotherhood leader on hunger strike over prison conditions

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed al-Beltagy has begun an open-ended hunger strike in protest against years of inhumane treatment and total isolation at the notorious Badr 3 prison.

The 62-year-old former MP said he has been refusing food since 1 July, joining dozens of other political prisoners in protest.

In a leaked letter obtained by The New Arab's Arabic sister outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, al-Beltagy described the extreme conditions in Badr 3 Sector 2, where he has been held with 57 others for the past three years.

He wrote: "We have endured what no human should endure for over 12 years. Death is more merciful than this.

"Eight years without seeing the sun or the sky’s colours. Eight years locked in cells 24 hours a day. Eight years cut off from our mothers, wives and children, denied any visits or phone calls, even learning of a parent’s death years later."

He accused Egyptian authorities of subjecting political detainees to systematic revenge for their role in the 2011 revolution and opposition to the 2013 military coup.

"What we are subjected to is unlike any prison in the world, not even under the Israeli occupation," he wrote. He urged "free people everywhere" to speak out against the "cruelty, tyranny, and oppression".

He also vowed to continue his strike "until death unless these inhumane conditions change".

Al-Beltagy, a surgeon and former Al-Azhar University professor, was a founding member of Egyptians Against Inheritance, a movement opposing hereditary presidential succession under Hosni Mubarak, and an active supporter of the Palestinian cause, joining the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla.

After the 2011 revolution, he became one of the key faces of Tahrir Square and was elected to the 2012 parliament and the constitutional drafting committee.

Following the military’s ouster of President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, Al-Beltagy joined the Rabaa al-Adawiya sit-in. His daughter Asmaa was killed during the massacre that ended the protest on 14 August 2013.

He was arrested two weeks later and subjected to a series of trials, with cumulative sentences of 219 years and 12 death penalties, verdicts widely condemned by human rights groups as politically motivated.

Al-Beltagy spent years in solitary confinement at Tora Prison before being moved in 2022 to Badr 3, a high-tech facility where detainees are under 24-hour surveillance, denied visits, and cut off from news and communication.

Rights groups have warned of worsening conditions in Badr 3, reporting a spike in suicides and medical neglect.

Last month, local and international organisations documented Al-Beltagy's deteriorating health, describing his ongoing isolation as a form of "slow death".