Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) is deeply concerned over the life of the detained Egyptian lawyer, Ali Abbas Barakat, after he was subjected to enforced disappearance, despite the severe deterioration of his health, and despite the issuance of a judicial order to release him.
The lawyer Barakat, 59, was arrested in 2016 from his office in Nasr City in Cairo, and subjected to enforced disappearance for one month, followed by being presented to the Public Prosecution in January 2017. During the interrogation, Barakat could not move or speak due to the severe torture he was subjected to. He also suffered a stroke, a ruptured shoulder and severe weight loss.
Barakat suffered from many diseases that require special medical care before his arrest, including diabetes, high blood pressure, late-stage liver cirrhosis, and varicose veins in the oesophagus. The detention conditions along with the deliberate medical negligence in Egyptian prisons put his life at an imminent risk.
In accordance with the Prisons Regulation Law, Barakat’s defence team submitted a request for his release on health grounds, after repeatedly going into a diabetic coma and a hepatic coma; however, the Ministry of Interior refused to implement the judicial order even after his family appealed against the non-implementation of the judicial order and is still holding him until now.
Barakat was arrested in three cases and was acquitted in all of them. His last acquittal order was issued on May 22, 2022, however, the security services refused to release him and transferred from Wadi Al-Natrun prison to Bandar Shebin El-Koum Police Station, then subjected him to enforced disappearance until this moment.
Barakat’s family requested information about his whereabouts from the Egyptian authorities to no avail. They also failed to send telegrams to the Public Prosecutor, after the authorities refused to send it, under the pretext of the service being out of order.
AOHR UK warned that the Egyptian regime is killing the lawyer and human rights defender Ali Abbas Barakat, by subjecting him to deliberate medical negligence despite his critical health condition.
AOHR UK also warned of the continued international disregard to the ongoing process of slow killing of detainees, which has turned prisons into cemeteries, especially with the systematic use of physical and psychological torture against opponents held inside.
