After Monday’s Prison Riot, Expert Calls for Regulatory Laws for Prisons in Egypt

After Monday’s Prison Riot, Expert Calls for Regulatory Laws for Prisons in Egypt

MP Dr. Ahmad Abu-Baraka (Legislative Committee member in People”s Assembly) revealed that Egypt has no law to regulate Egyptian prisons, and called for enacting laws that control and regulate life inside prisons to prevent the repetition of riots and accidents that result from lack of rules.



“Egypt lacks any legal regulation of prisons; the decision to regulate them was issued in 1954, to be presented to PA to approve it  at the time, but it was not presented until today”, Abu Baraka told the Muslim Brotherhood website, adding that it has not yet been presented to any legislative authority to be approved.



The strikes inside Egyptian prisons have been repeated more than once, following the strike of 280 prisoners in Burg Al-Arab prison in
Alexandria, in which prisoners protested against the continuous detention despite the court decisions to release them.

Prison conditions were criticized sharply after the death of three prisoners and the injuring of 15 others at least because of the fire that broke out in Wadi Annatroun prison last April because of an electrical error.


 
Amnesty International revealed that most Egyptian prisons suffer from poor conditions, and that prisoners suffer from cruel, inhuman and humiliating treatment, pointing out that hundreds of them are suffering from diseases such as tuberculosis and skin diseases.


 It also criticized the fact that many prisoners are in custody despite the repeated court orders to release them.


 
On Monday, Assiut Public prison has turned into a bloody battle that lasted for 5 hours after the death of prisoner Hani Al-Ghandour ( 40 years old) as a result of the prison administration’s rejection to transfer him to the hospital for treatment.


This led to a riot by 3500 prisoners which initially resulted in injuring12 prisoners three of them were shot, destroying large parts of the wards and staircases of the prison and the hospital inside it, as well as burning many files of the prison.


 
Informed sources told Ikhwanweb that the events began on Sunday at night when prisoner Hani Al-Ghandour complained from severe pain, calling for the help of prison administration to transfer him to the hospital. When prison officials did not respond to him, prisoners greatly sympathized with him and started to hit the doors of the cells to receive any response.


 
The riot restarted on Monday afternoon when some policemen stormed Al-Ghandour cell, beating all prisoners in the cell including Al-Ghandour as a punishment for insulting officers, then they transferred Al-Ghandour to the hospital, but he died before arriving there, which fueled the prisoners’ discontent and heightened violence against police officers in the prison.