A 29-year-old man committed suicide in his cell at Egypt's notorious Badr 3 Prison, located east of Cairo, the Shehab Centre for Human Rights said this week.
The rights group added that the suicide took place after a series of violations carried out by the prison’s administration against the man, identified as Alaa Jamal.
"Jamal is from the Minya governorate, and was subjected to abuse, a ban on visits and the confiscation of his belongings before he committed suicide," The New Arab’s Arabic language sister publication, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported, citing the rights organisation.
The Shehab centre further noted that "the officer in charge in the National Security Agency banned visits from him for a long time, which prompted him to threaten to commit suicide if the ban continued".
According to findings from the rights group, "the deceased detainee was recently allowed a visit, but the same officer, Marwan Hammad, refused to allow him to receive food and supplies brought to him by his family after the visit ended".
Jamal was also placed in solitary confinement after he threatened to commit suicide, but was found hanged in his prison cell this morning, reports state.
Once the news spread within the prison, detainees declared a general strike, with some setting fire to the blankets.
The move prompted the ministry of interior to call in rapid response forces to deal with the strike inside the prison, reports state.
The rights group further issued a statement calling on Egyptian attorney general counsellor Mohammed Shawky Ayad to "open an urgent investigation into the death and hold those responsible accountable, particularly given the significant increase in violations noted at the Badr 3 Prison, and the spike in the number of deaths in the prison, with the most recent one being that of Mohammed Hilal".
Mohammed Hilal, 32, was transferred to the intensive care unit in the Qasr al-Aini Hospital in Cairo after leaving prison in critical condition, suffering from severe injuries.
The injuries were "suspected to have resulted from severe torture or systematic physical assault", a report from Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported, noting that he was in a coma and underwent emergency surgery to stop severe internal bleeding in his skull as well as a fractured hand.
The Badr 3 Prison is notorious for its repression of prisoners, with security authorities deliberately blocking any information leaked from the prison. Detainees in pre-trial detention have also been denied their legal right to be presented regularly to a court for review of their detention, and their complaints have been prevented from reaching their lawyers.
Local and international rights groups and free press activists have long accused Egypt of filing trumped-up charges against dissidents and individuals, as well as raising awareness over the cramped and unsanitary conditions in prisons where abuse is rampant.
Egypt’s President, Abdelfattah al-Sisi has run the country with an iron fist since seizing power in a 2013 military coup while he was Minister of Defence. Media freedom and civil rights have sharply deteriorated since then.
In 2023, Egypt was ranked among the world's worst jailers of journalists, tied with Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and ranked at number 170 out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index.
Over the past decade marking Sisi's rule, Egypt has blocked over 500 local and international websites and news outlets.
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