Political detainees in Ward 21 of Burj Al Arab Prison in Alexandria entered their fifth day of hunger strike in protest against their harsh treatment and inhumane detention conditions.
The strike was prompted by the prison’s worsening living conditions, which included harsh search operations and the confiscation of inmates’ personal property, as well as a sharp decline in visitation hours.
After the last strike ended, the prison administration promised to improve conditions, but they never did. As a result, the inmates resumed their strike to demand their rightful rights.
Waves of hunger strikes and protests against the harsh conditions of detention are taking place in Egyptian prisons at a time when the Egyptian government is not abiding by international human rights standards.
On another note, Professor Nasser Abdel Moneim, 62, and four members of his family were arbitrarily arrested on May 27, 2024, from various locations in the governorates of Cairo and Alexandria. This is the 165th day in a row that the Egyptian authorities have committed the crime of enforced disappearance against them.
Abdel Moneim, his wife, Mrs. Amal Abdel Salam Ibrahim (59), her sister, Engineer Ghada Abdel Salam Ibrahim (52), his daughter, Mrs. Reham Nasser Abdel Moneim, and her husband, Professor Wael Abdel Razzaq Muhammad, are among the detainees that are also included.
More than five months have passed since the arrest, but none of the detainees have been brought before the Public Prosecution or any other court, and neither charges nor the locations of their detention have been made public.
Given the continuous, systematic enforced disappearances, this situation raises more and more questions regarding their safety and lives, even though the Egyptian government is solely responsible for their protection.
In recent years, the Egyptian government has persisted in its widespread policy of enforced disappearances, subjecting numerous political opponents and activists to arbitrary detention, torture, and abuse without formal charges or a trial.
