The Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners HRAAP Campaign

Hand in Hand…Egypt without Torture

Cairo: 12/6/2004

Serial of torture continues

HRAAP calls upon the Attorney General to investigate into the incident of the Engineer Akram Zohair death in Tura Farm prison after less than 20 days of arresting him in the campaign of detaining the leaders of Muslim Brothers group in the middle of the past May.

As a continuation to serial of torture in police station fridges and offices of the State Security and detention cells, we have gone through a new scene of this serial at dawn of Wednesday May 9, 2004, which is the death of the engineer Akram Zohair, aged 40 years old, and one of the Muslim Brothers' group leaders who are detained at the hand of the state security forces in the middle of the past month. They have been referred to the Supreme State Security Prosecution on the suspicion of the affiliation with an illegal secret organization established unlike law provisions and having prints and publications and the attempt to revive the activity of the Muslim Brothers' group and registered in No. 462/2004.

The circumstances of detaining and death of Akram Zohair are full of violations in spite of the deterioration of his health conditions since the date of arrest, as he suffers from diabetes; however, the prison administration did not take any procedure to provide him with the proper medical care but we have received information tells that this negligence was intentional and a clear obstinacy from the side of the prison administration that refused to transfer him to hospital which is considered an action conforms with the series of violations that accompanied the arrest on the victim Akram Zohair and the Muslim Brothers' group which are represented in searching their houses and offices illegally and randomly in addition to confiscating their computer sets and mobile phones and files and what is found of money.

The series of disregarding his deteriorated health conditions persisted until he lost the ability to move and then the prison administration sent him to Al-Manial hospital where he died after hours of his arrival and assistances could not help it.

HRAAP expresses its concern about the continuation of the series of torture and violating the minimum legal rights for prisoners and detainees and call upon the Attorney General to open investigations into death of the engineer Akram Zohair. On the other hand, we condemn the governmental attempts to exclude the Muslim Brothers movement from the Egyptian political map, assert its right to existence, and work without and restraints and practice its activities officially for the reason that it is an Islamic, political and peaceful movement. So, we claim releasing the all detained and renew our previous claims to lift the emergency state imposed since 1981 and releasing the all administrative detainees and putting and end to the policy of torture in police stations and the Egyptian prisons and providing the right of forming and issuing newspaper and the right of founding independent associations and filtering it of fetters laid on rights and liberties practice.

The Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners.