Egyptian political prisoner dies of medical negligence after five years without trial
Egyptian political prisoner Ihab Masoud Juha died this week after more than five years of pre-trial detention, a rights group said.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) said that Juha, 51, had been subjected to medical negligence that “amounts to murder by omission”.
“The EIPR calls on Public Prosecutor Mohamed Shawky to open an urgent investigation into the Prisons Authority's handling of Juha's medical file in a way that led to his death,” it said.
“Noting that Juha's case is not an isolated one, EIPR calls on the Public Prosecutor to review the situation of pretrial detainees, immediately release anyone whose detention has exceeded two years, and develop a clear plan with a specific time frame to respond to all health care requests submitted by detainees to either the Public Prosecution or the Prisons Authority.”
Two political prisoners have died in Egyptian jails in October, according to the Committee for Justice rights group, which documented 45 other deaths in custory in 2024.
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On Thursday, the Terrorism Criminal Court rejected, for the fourth time, a request by the lawyers of Sherif el-Rouby, former spokesperson of the April 6 Movement activist group, to release him due to his deteriorating health and need for treatment.
The court decided to extend his detention for 45 days pending investigations in Case No. 1634 of 2022, Mada Masr reported.
El-Rouby is accused of spreading false news and statements, misusing social media, and joining a banned organisation. His lawyer Nabih el-Geneidi stated on Facebook that el-Rouby has been suffering for over three months from severe inflammation of the seventh cranial nerve and required imaging and treatment.
El-Rouby, who is spending his sixth year in nearly continuous pretrial detention, received a court order to be detained for 45 days in July after already spending 22 months in detention.
Rights groups have accused the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of jailing tens of thousands of peaceful critics under the pretext of fighting terrorism.
Egypt does not have a tally of the number of political prisoners. But according to the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, the total number of prisoners in Egypt in March 2021 was 120,000, with an estimated 65,000 political prisoners, at least 26,000 of whom were being held in pre-trial detention.
Many have died of medical neglect and other inhumane prison conditions, according to documentation by multiple rights groups.
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