Shehab Center for Human Rights: Egypt Children Hunger-Strike Protests Prison Ill-Treatment

 Egyptian underage detainees at the Marg Penal Institution for Minors announced the start of an open hunger-strike to protest mistreatment and abuse by management, officers and wardens, and to make several essential demands included in their letter as follows:

Message from inmates at the Marg penal institution for juveniles

To our people, state officials and all defenders of human rights…

Please help us achieve our fair and simple demands. We announce hereby that we have started an open-ended hunger-strike, because the conditions and atrocities inside those walls are unbearable.

We demand as follows:

1 – Stop the beatings, insults and humiliation of inmates, by officers, so-called "specialists" and prisoners acting as the "self-governing" committee.

2 – Allow inmates freedom inside their "wards". Do not seek to control them. Do not treat them as if they were robots.

3 – Do not allow "specialists" or prisoners acting as the "self-governing" committee to ban inmates from going out of the wards.

4 – Select more suitable prisoners for the "self-governing Committee". They should not be oppressive or unjust. They should be capable of managing the "wards".

5 – Do not ban foods and canned goods from entering the wards.

6 – Extend duration of visits to two hours.

7 – Put political prisoners in one "ward". This, in fact, is the most important requirement.

We, the detainees at Marg Penal Institution will not abandon our demands or give up on the hunger-strike.

We urge our families outside to support us.

If our demands are not met, we will begin to escalate.

Shehab Center for Human Rights

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