Amnesty International has called on Egyptian authorities to halt retaliatory measures against detainees at the 10th of Ramadan Prison who have launched a hunger strike to protest their arbitrary detention and inhumane conditions.
Mahmoud Shalaby, an Egypt researcher at Amnesty, criticized authorities for punishing inmates rather than addressing their grievances. Despite being held in a newly built facility, prisoners face severe mistreatment, including being confined to their cells for 23 hours a day with no exposure to sunlight, violating international detention standards.
The hunger strike, which began in January among political detainees at the prison’s Reform and Rehabilitation Center, demands an end to prolonged pretrial detentions and substandard conditions. Requests for intervention by Egypt’s Public Prosecutor and judiciary have been ignored.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) has also condemned the conditions, but authorities have responded by investigating its director, Hossam Bahgat, on charges of “spreading false news” and “aiding a terrorist group.” Human Rights Watch has urged Egypt to drop the charges, emphasizing the need to protect human rights defenders.
