Egypt: Rights groups raise the alarm on increasing deaths of detainees

Egypt’s human rights community has expressed growing concern after new deaths were reported inside detention facilities, with civil society organisations accusing security agencies of systematic torture and deliberate medical neglect.

In the latest case, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) called on the public prosecution to open an urgent investigation into the death of Tarek Ashraf al-Sayed Mahfouz, who died in custody at the Haram police station in Giza.

According to the organisation’s documentation, Mahfouz had been detained since 3 December following a domestic dispute, before his mother was informed of his death on 24 December.

The initiative cited testimony from Mahfouz’s brother and his lawyer, who said visible injuries to his back, neck and legs suggested he had been subjected to severe physical violence.

EIPR described the Haram police station as one of the worst detention sites in Egypt, pointing to a record of abuses and extreme overcrowding that can exceed 300% of capacity. It said this turns holding cells into inhumane spaces lacking ventilation, with no adequate medical care.

In a separate case, several rights groups, including the El-Shehab Centre for Human Rights, Adalah Organisation and the Egyptian Network for Human Rights, reported the death of Ahmed Suleiman al-Masoudi, 55, inside a facility affiliated with the National Security Agency in Sharqia governorate.

Masoudi’s case has drawn particular attention because it came after a decision by the Zagazig Criminal Court on 11 November ordering his release.

Instead of the ruling being implemented, the organisations said, he was forcibly disappeared and denied medical care despite suffering from acute pneumonia and a deteriorating health condition.

They added that his condition had worsened after years of being repeatedly “recycled” into political cases since 2015. His family was later informed of his death under unclear circumstances and received his body at dawn last Sunday.

Rights documentation suggests the cases are not isolated. Monitoring groups say around 24 people have died inside police stations since the start of 2025.

Rights advocates attribute the deaths to torture, ill-treatment or medical neglect in unhealthy detention environments.

They argue that the repeated incidents reflect a pattern of governance aimed at subduing citizens through fear, in the absence of accountability for officers implicated. This, they say, has reinforced a sense among the public that anyone could become a potential victim without protection from the power of the security services.

The Egyptian Network for Human Rights and other groups held the Interior Ministry and the National Security Agency fully responsible for the deaths. They argued that detention in secret facilities, outside the supervision of the public prosecution, constitutes a crime in itself.

Adalah Organisation also called for an end to enforced disappearances and for court rulings to be implemented.

It said the absence of a free press and an independent parliament exercising oversight had provided cover for the continuation of such violations.

“Calls for independent and impartial judicial investigations remain the only way to ensure those responsible are not shielded from accountability and to stop the loss of life behind bars,” the organisation said.