The Egyptian Coalition on Children’s Rights requested the Interior Ministry investigate a hunger strike staged by 50 children at a juvenile delinquents’ facility in Kom al-Dikka, Alexandria.
The parents of the children claim the Alexandria Security Directorate told them to deny that their children are on strike if they wanted to visit their children. They said the ill-treatment of their children must stop immediately.
The parents said in a memorandum to the Interior Ministry that their children refused to be transferred to a penal institution in Cairo believed to torture children. They also said it would be difficult for them to visit their children there.
A number of parents were arrested for objecting to the transfer and were charged with resisting the authorities.
Lawyers dispatched from the coalition on Thursday confirmed that the children were on strike. They said an officer allowed some parents to see their children and asked the parents to tell their children that they should end the strike.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
