• EGYPT
  • June 13, 2016
  • 5 minutes read

Rights NGO: Interior Ministry Responsible for Death of Detainee Maged Hanafi Due to Denial of Treatment

Rights NGO: Interior Ministry Responsible for Death of Detainee Maged Hanafi Due to Denial of Treatment

 The Egyptian Coordinating Committee of Rights and Freedom (ECRF) strongly condemns the coup regime’s Interior Ministry for continuing its policy of systematic murder of detainees slowly through the denial of proper treatment, subjecting them to deliberate medical negligence.



Detainee Maged Hanafi – 35 years – died Sunday at Tora Prison Hospital after prison authorities refused to transfer him to the properly specialized Institute of Oncology for treatment.


It is unfortunate that the judiciary also is complicit in this crime with its silence and refusal to take the measures guaranteed by law for all inmates in those critical health situations.


The families of the deceased and ECRF’s Criminal Justice Unit in sent a plea to the Public Prosecutor affirming Hanafi suffered a critical state of health. However, the public prosecutor showed no interest in the matter, despite the fact that the detainee’s medical reports confirmed that his condition was so critical that he could not survive the sub-human situation in the prison, especially as authorities had stopped him from completing treatment of malignant tumors. He continued to suffer pain since his arrest on December 11, 2013.


ECRF holds the IM, the prison authorities and Wadi Natrun Prison complex fully responsible for the death of the detainee Maged Hanafi. Furthermore, ECRF holds that the judiciary shares that responsibility, for failing to apply procedures prescribed by law to safeguard and protect citizens’ lives and safety.


This heinous policy only means sentencing all detainees to slow death, while the Egyptian Constitution of 2014 states in Article 42 that: "Any person arrested, detained or has his freedom restricted shall be treated in a manner that shall preserve his human dignity, and may not be harmed physically or mentally".


ECRF regrets that – every too often – Egyptians wake up to the news of such a painfully tragic death, without authorities taking any real steps to stop the murderous crime getting committed repeatedly.


Since the start of 2016, until now, at least 11 Egyptians have been killed in the same systematic way of slow murder by medical neglect, according to cases documented by ECRF alone.


This time, reactions must go beyond condemnation and denunciation. What is needed is real human rights and legal action at local and global levels, in which all those concerned with human rights, indeed all those concerned with humanity in general and with a person’s most basic right – to live, work together.


ECRF hopes its call will receive a greater response this time, especially as thousands of detainees in Egyptian jails face the same fate.


Egyptian Coordinating Committee of Rights and Freedom #التنسيقية_المصرية_للحقوق_والحريات


Cairo: Sunday – June 12, 2016