Egypt’s Administrative Court has delayed the lawsuit of closing Al-Aqrab prison to August 2, 2016 to complete procedures.
Al-Aqrab (literally means Scorpion) prison in Tora area which is a maximum-security facility is used for political prisoners and is called “Journalists’ graveyard”.
Case filed by a number of families of detainees in the high-security prison No. 992, which calls for the closure of the prison in which a large number of journalists are being held in very bad conditions.
lawsuit that carried No. 39399 is against both the President of the Republic in his capacity and interior minister.
The lawsuit said that the engineering design of the buildings of the prison itself is harmful to human health, as it is a buildings of concrete that prevent the entry of the sun and air. This is as well as the intransigence of the prison administration preventing the entry of medicines and food to the patients, and preventing sports exercise and visits. The lawsuit said that a large number of prisoners were subjected to poisoning because of rotten food provided by the prison administration.
Egyptian Coordination of Rights and Freedoms “ECRF” and the Arab media Freedom Monitor “Ikshef” have launched the campaign “Close Al-Aqrab”, and were joined by a number of human rights organizations and the Association of the families of the detainees Al-Aqrab prison, and the activities of the campaign began to by filing this lawsuit.
