Detention, Killing and Inhumane Treatment in Egypt's Jails
The Egyptian military regime is reaching new lows every day. There are tens of thousands held in it's jails, many without accusation or trials. All those held for political reasons are subject to systematic torture and inhuman treatment regardless of their age, medical situation, special needs or vulnerabilities, this has been reported several time by Human Right Watch.
Those detained are denied international mandated family visits and medical care. Under such conditions what can be claimed as "natural" death is nothing short of extra judicial execution.
And the punishment sometimes goes beyond death, as was the case for M. Mahdi Akef, a well known opposition figure and the former supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood who passed away Friday while in custody of the regime.
Mr. Akef was denied, as many others, family visits and appropriate medical care disregarding his age, as an 89 year old, and his illness, as a cancer patient. After his passing he was also denied a normal family funeral by the authorities; only four (4) persons allowed to be present in his funeral.
Mr. Akef's case brings to light the extreme suffering of prisoners in Egypt and puts a responsibility on world governments, especially those who have strong relations with the Egypt military regime, civil society and interaction organizations to put pressure on the Egyptian regime to stop torture, arbitrary detentions, apply international prison standards and allow international monitoring and inspection to Egyptian prisons.
We call on the Canadian government to step up its efforts on this front without delay.
Ahmed Abdelkader
President, ECCD
About ECCD: Egyptian Canadian Coalition for Democracy (ECCD) is a politically independent, non-affiliated pan Canadian organization with chapters in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Calgary, Vancouver, and Kingston, which advocates for democracy and human rights in Egypt.
For more information:
www.eccd.ca
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