Political prisoner Hossam El-Din Kamal Abdel Mageed Abdel Monem,59, died inside a prison deportation vehicle, during his deportation from Helwan Police Department, south of Cairo, to Gamasa Prison, north of Egypt, on Tuesday, August 27.
The Gamasa Prison administration refused to receive his body to transfer it to a nearby hospital.
Hossam was in detention pending investigations in a political case, and had a heart problem for which he did not receive the necessary treatment and medication. Despite this, he was transferred inside a deportation vehicle that is not fit for human use, especially with the high temperatures and humidity. He then suffered a severe heart attack during the deportation, and did not receive any medical care, leading to his death.
Hossam had completed his three-year prison sentence in a political case last July, and instead of releasing him, the security authorities included him in several new cases, and he was transferred between the Helwan, Maadi, Ain Shams, and Nahda departments. He was detained in harsh detention conditions, with severe overcrowding, the spread of drugs and smoking, lack of ventilation and exercise, and sunlight, and where everything posed a great danger to a heart patient who needs medical and health care.
With Hossam’s death, the number of deaths in prisons and various detention centres since the beginning of this year has risen to 34 deaths.
Hossam’s death once again highlights the dangerous situation of human rights in Egypt, where detainees and convicts suffer from horrific detention conditions and ongoing violations of their basic rights.
His death is a clear indication of the failure of the Egyptian authorities to provide the necessary medical care to detainees, which is a flagrant violation of international law and ethical standards.
This tragic event requires human rights and international organisations’ pressure on the Egyptian government to assume full responsibility for protecting detainees and convicts, providing them with adequate medical care inside prisons, investigating the incidents of death, bringing those responsible to justice, and ensuring that such incidents are not repeated in the future.
It is worth noting that Egyptian prisons generally lack basic health requirements, which include good food, sanitary facilities, and enough toilets, as well as lighting, ventilation, and exercise. Most of the detainees in Egypt also suffer from severe overcrowding inside detention facilities.
