After one year and seven months of arbitrary detention, Egyptian prisoner of conscience Shahat Abdel Azim Ibrahim has died whilst held in Wadi al-Natrun medical centre, after he suffered kidney failure following a continuous denial of appropriate treatment.
Total medical neglect in Tora prison led to a cessation of his kidney function, as a result of which Abdel Azim fell into a coma and died.
Abdel Aziz is from Edfu, in the Aswan Governorate in southern Egypt. He had been arbitrarily detained since 4 January 2021, pending two politicised cases against him.
The administration of Tora prison denied Abdel Aziz access to appropriate medicines and to adequate health care generally. In addition to medical negligence, he suffered various forms of physical and psychological torture.
Following a predictable deterioration of his health, Tora prison authorities transferred Abdel Aziz to Wadi al-Natrun medical centre in order to undergo dialysis. However, he suffered severe bleeding and fell into a coma before dying.
Abdel Azim’s is the fifth death in Egyptian prisons this July, and the 22nd since the beginning of this year.
Prisoners of conscience suffer medical negligence across Egypt’s prisons, which in general do not meet the minimum international standards for places of detention suitable for humans. Overcrowding, malnutrition, and appalling hygiene, ventilation and lighting are all common features of the country’s penal system.
