A businessman has become the second political detainee this month to die in the Egyptian prison system.
Ahmed Shaheen, the managing director of Azmeel Real Estate Company, died inside his prison cell on Thursday, February 10, 2022.
He had been arrested in 2018 on political charges.
Shaheen’s death follows that of Mohamed Abdel Hamid Ahmed Abdel Hafez, 40 , who died due to ill health earlier this month.
Their deaths bring the total number of people to have died in detention in Egypt this year so far to four. A total of 918 have died inside Egyptian prisons and detention facilities since July 2013.
Political detainees in Egypt often suffer serious breaches to their human rights. They are regularly subjected to medical negligence, overcrowded cells, malnutrition, a lack of hygiene and exposure to pollution.