• EGYPT
  • September 2, 2014
  • 4 minutes read

Political Prisoners Plea from Tanta Main Jail

Political Prisoners Plea from Tanta Main Jail

 Political prisoners and detainees in Tanta Main Prison made a nine-point forceful plea:



1. Political prisoners are often physically attacked and their clothes torn to shreds for no good reason.


2. Inspection of foods brought in by visits is carried out in unacceptable, barbaric ways that make food unfit for human consumption.


3. Political prisoners in Tanta Main Jail are prohibited from minimum exercise requirements. The time allowed out of the tiny cells is far too short, it is not even sufficient for an essential bathroom visit.


4. No-one is allowed to enter the library.


5. Restrictions on prisoners include visits to hospital for treatment. No matter how much a prisoner suffers, they give him a pain-killer pill.


6. In the prison hospital, doctors fail to show up – for long periods of time, which increases the suffering of sick prisoners, especially those who suffer from chronic diseases and need constant care.


7. It is difficult, even impossible, to contact the prison governor or superintendent, which means prisoners’ complaints go unheard and the situation gets worse.


8. Most of the food given to political prisoners is stolen or divided among some wardens.


9. Three cells at a time are allowed to ‘slop out’, a period of only ten minutes, in which a prisoner has to wash dishes, bathe, use the toilet, and empty chamber pots and dustbins.


Thus, oppressing prisoners is not only by taking away their rights, but also ignoring their essential human needs, their basic necessities as human beings. We are reduced to animal status. Everything we do in prison is done below animal standards. We eat rotting food, are not allowed sufficient time for relieving ourselves, and there are no toilets of any kind inside cells. Altogether, these conditions make prisoners feel they cannot be called "human beings".