The Egyptian political prisoner Ahmed Zaidan Abdel-Azim, 38, who is serving a 15-year prison sentence, is subjected to serious violations in prison.
A leaked letter from Wadi al-Natrun Prison revealed that Abdel-Azim was subjected to severe beatings, electric shock, deportation threats, and other retaliatory measures at the hand of the police officer Moamen Owais and other security officers.
Abdel-Azim is subjected to these serious violations despite his difficult health condition, as he needs to undergo open-heart surgery.
If something bad happened to me, I hold Moamen Owais and Imad Hamdi and the Wadi al-Natrun Prison administration responsible, he said in the letter.
Family sources affirmed that Ahmed Abdel-Azim is receiving constant threats of transferring to a far prison and stopping his medical treatment, despite his serious health deterioration.
Abdel-Azim’s family had earlier submitted several requests for his early release on health grounds, especially after having spent nearly 10 years of his 15-year sentence.
The family also filed complaints against the assaults he was subjected to at the hands of the officer, Moamen Owais, and others who were involved in assaulting and torturing him.
Inhumane detention conditions have long plagued Egypt’s prisons, adversely affecting prisoners’ rights to adequate medical treatment and health care.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.
