In letters sent to the UN and the African Commission, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) is asking them to pressure the Egyptian government to prosecute those responsible for killing or severely mistreating prisoners in Egyptian Prisons in January and February. The case has been stalled for 11 months.
"We sent letters to the UN and African Commission because our repeated calls for action to the Egyptian government since last February have been ignored," said Magda Boutros, Criminal Justice Reform Director at the EIPR. "We have called on the authorities to stop the abuses while they were happening; we have since been calling for a prompt and impartial investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice. Both calls have been ignored."
The EIPR condemned the authorities for failing to prosecute suspects and stem abuse against inmates. It accused the public prosecutor’s office of being “grossly negligent in investigating the abuses, unduly delaying the investigations and showing bias.”
Despite the passage of 11 months since the mass killing and ill treatment of prisoners in 5 prisons, no suspects have been referred to trial, EIPR said in a statement on Monday.
Hoda Nasrallah, lawyer with EIPR, adds in the statement that the prosecutor has not summoned any of the officers accused of killing prisoners nor the prisoners that were presented by EIPR as witnesses.
In their letters to UN and the African Commission, EIPR informed them of the results of its own investigation and urged them to immediately pressure the government to take action in the cases.
The EIPR report, issued in August, concluded that in the period in between 29 January and 20 February, prison guards opened fire on prisoners in 5 prisons, killing 100 and injuring hundreds more.
The report also revealed cruel treatment of prisoners during this period, such as prison guards deserting their posts and leaving inmates locked in without food or water for up to 15 days.
The abuse coincided with the retreat of security forces with Egypt’s cities following massive protests on 28 January. A large number of prisoners escaped, or were released from their cells, during that time.
