Political prisoners in Egyptian prisons continue to endure inhumane conditions that violate international human rights standards, while medical malpractice and cruel treatment deadlines are frequent.
Given the harsh conditions of detention in Egyptian prisons, detainee Ahmed Mohamed Gabr (43 years old) passed away after his health deteriorated. He battled for a long time with medical malpractice and inadequate care, ultimately passing away at Alexandria University Hospital.
Since his health continued to deteriorate during his nearly ten years of incarceration in various detention facilities infamous for their cruel conditions, the deceased’s family had made numerous distress calls in an attempt to save his life. According to his family, he did not receive the proper care in a timely manner, which caused his health to deteriorate until his death.
On March 16, 2015, security forces detained Gabr, a chemical engineer from Alexandria’s Wardian district, along with his wife and small child. Before the wife and child were freed and he remained in custody, the three were forcibly disappeared for a number of days.
Gabr suffered from severe physical and psychological torture during his seven-day detention at the National Security headquarters in Alexandria, which severely damaged his health and left him unable to move.
Following that, Gabr was sent to a military trial, where he was found guilty in Military Case No. 108 and given a life sentence. These years were spent by Gabr in conditions of detention that were inappropriate and did not meet the bare minimum of human rights, which is indicative of a pattern of violations related to detention in Egypt.
Since the start of 2025, Gabr is the fourth political prisoner to die in Egyptian facilities, which raises grave concerns about the continued medical neglect and mistreatment that occurs there.
Earlier this year, Saad El-Sayed Madin, 57, passed away in Borg El-Arab Prison due to wilful medical negligence and subpar detention conditions, and political prisoner Metwally Abu El-Magd Soliman, 57, died in Gamasa Maximum Security Prison following a heart attack brought on by his deteriorating health while incarcerated.
After his health worsened while he was in custody, prisoner Abdel Salam Saddouma, who had cancer, also passed away at Umm Al-Masryeen Hospital. Gabr’s passing brings attention to the agony of political prisoners once more and urges the international community and human rights groups to act to put pressure on the Egyptian government to guarantee human rights, improve conditions in detention, and free all prisoners of conscience.
