Egyptian families launching campaign to bring blankets to prisoners

The families of Egyptian political prisoners are organising a campaign called “Blankets for Prisoners” to provide some comfort to prisoners during the cold winter months.

“In 2014 and 2013, Egypt suffered from harsh cold weather during the winter months,” according to the group’s campaign statement on its Facebook page.  “The country occasionally had snow falls and saw a sharp decline in temperature and a severe rise in humidity, something Egypt had not seen before. This winter is likely to bring even more suffering and ill health to prisoners in the harsh weather conditions.”

The campaign, according to the organisers, will officially launch on 9 January and is “purely a human rights and humanitarian campaign that is not affiliated to any political or religious group.

“The campaign supports the right of all prisoners to obtain the needed winter clothes and blankets irrespective of religion or political affiliation or the nature of indictment case,” the statement said.

At exactly 12:00 noon on 9 January 2016, the group of families of political prisoners in the prisons of Turra Farm Annex, Al-Aqrab 1, Al-Aqrab 2, Burj Al-Arab and Wadi Al-Naturn will hold a solidarity sit-in in front of the National Council for Human Rights during which a memorandum comprising the demands of the prisoners and their families will be handed to the Council's Secretary General.

At the same time, several solidarity sit-ins will be held by Egyptians and human rights supporters abroad in front of Egyptian embassies in a number of countries with the aim of highlighting the plight of the prisoners and supporting their rights.

“We call on all Egyptians to join us and support our constitutional demand to ensure the safety or our children and relatives who are suffering severely in prison in what may be considered a process of slow death,” the statement said.

The human rights situation in Egypt has been much criticised with about 41,000 people arrested or detained in Egypt since the July 2013 coup. Human rights groups including the Carter Centre and Human Rights Watch have been forced to relocate abroad.

In a piece written about political prisoners in Egypt in March by deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch Joe Stork, he describes the conditions they face as inhumane, according to an MEE report published in August.

“President al-Sisi and his entourage have put in place a highly repressive order that, with the revival of arbitrary arrests, torture in custody, disregard for civil and political rights, and extremely limited tolerance for public criticism, is doing more than anyone to damage Egypt’s reputation,” wrote Stork.