• EGYPT
  • August 26, 2015
  • 3 minutes read

Death Chambers, Azuli Prison

Death Chambers, Azuli Prison

According to documented testimonies and on the ground research into detention at Azuli Military Prison, it is run by the armed forces, specifically the Second Field Army Command, in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior’s notorious National Security apparatus.


According to documented statements and testimonies, the most important violations committed in Azuli Prison are:


1. Enforced Disappearance: All detainees at this prison are victims of enforced disappearance, banned from any contact with their families or lawyers for varying periods. Junta authorities refuse to give any information about the reason for their detention to anyone. In fact, Azuli Prison is not subject to any civil judicial or executive oversight.


2. Torture: All detainees in this prison suffer brutal torture of varying vindictiveness and barbarism. Some of the detainees are subjected to severe torture in the first periods of detention until they confess to trumped-up charges dictated to them before the Supreme State Security Prosecution. Others suffer non-stop torture without reason and without any charges laid against them, no matter how long they are held in detention. This group is held in the part of Azuli Prison called ‘Interrogation’. Varied forms of torture are systematically used inside the prison, from constant humiliating and degrading treatment, through suspension, electric shocks, whipping, sexual assault, rape etc.


3. Detention in inhumane conditions: The victims are held in tight cells entirely unfit for human habitation. There is no cover of any kind to protect a detainee from the cold. Nor is there a toilet. Detainees are forced to relieve themselves in a bucket kept in the same cell, where detainees are crammed. Indeed, cells are always packed with many times the official numerical capacity. Detainees are denied medical care completely. They have no chance of meeting their families or lawyers.


4. Random charges fabricated: The security authorities randomly arrest people and throw them in Azuli Prison. They bring criminal charges against some. Then, they torture them in most sadistic ways until they confess to committing those supposed crimes. Other detainees are held without charge. This alone is clear a violation of detainees’ right to fair trials.


5. Extrajudicial killings: Many detainees are subjected to violent and brutal torture until they die. In most of these cases, detainees’ families do not get any information that could enable them to find them or know their fate.