Detainees’ Families Arrange a Demonstration

On Sunday, a delegation of the political prisoners’ families, arrested during the recent parliamentary polls, heads for Dr. Boutros Gaily, the President of the National Council for Human Rights, to lodge complaints on emergency law. Although those prisoners were put under arrest in the course of the vote then the prosecution ordered to free them, the Interior Ministry persists to keep them into custody in Borg al-Arab Prison.   
 
Due to the deteriorating health care in the prison, many detainees are getting worse, especially those who suffer from chronic diseases such as renal failure, asthma and diabetes. In spite of their plunging health conditions, the prison management refuses to commit them to specialized hospitals. 
 
Furthermore, the arrested students are not allowed to have books, an action that violates human rights. Therefore, they miss the first-term exams.
 
On Monday, Jun 9, prisoners of Borg al-Arab went on a hunger strike to protest the maltreatment and ignoring of court rulings stipulated their release. This is a reminiscent of the slow killing show which led to the death of Akram el-Zohary.
 
The detainees have leaked an account that voices the urgent need for admitting a number of prisoners to hospitals because of their serious health states. For example, Abdul Tawfiq el-Sebaiy, 47, suffers from renal failure and liver cirrhosis which threaten his life. Officials of the prison hospital refused to bring him Albumin injections to relieve his ascites symptoms aggravating in spite of diuretics he is taking. They excused saying this action should be done in the Alex University hospital due to the required efficiency to perform it.