Egyptian human rights lawyer Shams el-Din Ahmed Attallah has died inside Tenth of Ramadan Prison, in an incident that once again exposes the scale of grave violations faced by lawyers and human rights defenders in Egypt.
His death followed a severe deterioration in his health while in detention, after he was denied access to necessary medical care. This constitutes deliberate medical neglect, amounting to a serious human rights crime for which the responsible authorities bear full legal responsibility.
Records of Shams el-Din’s detention since November 2021, in connection with a State Security case, indicate that he was targeted solely for carrying out his professional duties in defending political detainees, which is a stark violation of the guarantees protecting the legal profession and the right to defence enshrined in international law.
The gravity of the situation is further compounded by the continued enforced disappearance of his son, Mohamed Shams, since 2018, within the framework of a policy that targets Egyptian families linked to political activists. This reflects a deliberate approach of repression and the systematic erosion of fundamental human rights within places of detention.
What occurred constitutes a clear breach of Egypt’s international obligations, including those under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which guarantees the right to life, the right to a fair trial, protection from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the freedom and safety of practising legal professions.
Deliberate medical neglect in prisons, as in the case of Shams al-Din, represents a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, which guarantee their right to practise their profession without intimidation, harassment, or persecution.
Shams el-Din’s death comes amid a broader escalation against human rights lawyers in Egypt, where more than 90 lawyers have been referred to trial before terrorism circuits merely for performing their professional duties in political and human rights cases.
These practices, including the recycling of cases and the prolonged detention of lawyers without genuine trials, constitute a blatant violation of the principle of the independence of the legal profession and the right to defence. They underscore that the Egyptian regime is pursuing a systematic policy aimed at silencing lawyers and suppressing every independent voice.
In light of these violations, Egypt emerges as a state that represses the fundamental rights of citizens and lawyers alike, placing itself in direct confrontation with its international obligations and the principles of human rights.
