, known in the media as Al-Aqrab (Scorpion) Prison, has surpassed all boundaries – in which detainees are not in a prison anymore, they are in a cemetery where they cannot exercise their most basic rights including their right to live, their rights to treatment and medication, their right to bodily integrity, their right to have visitations, and much more; not to mention the suffering the detainees must endure from extreme torture and the suffering their families go through in order to see them.
Al-Aqrab Prison lacks the basic components of constitutional and legal standards for any prison according to the constitution and international laws/ agreements.
The signatories of this statement, declare their full support of the demands of the Al-Aqrab Prisons’ Families Association to close Al-Aqrab Prison for its complete violation of all International Standards for prisons and laws and standards provided for in the Egyptian constitution, until there is proof that no violations will occur, and mechanisms are put in place to monitor this. The undersigned organizations assert their full support and solidarity with the families’ demands for moving their detained family members from Al-Aqrab prison and to another prison that abides by and implements the local and international legal specifications and requirements for prisons; to a prison that allows detainees at least their most basic human and legal rights to receive medication, exercise, communicate (through writing and telephones) with their family members, have family visitations, have books and newspapers, and much more, and one that abides by all the rights enshrined and set forth by prison regulations which were founded by the prison services of the Ministry of Interior affairs.
Furthermore, the undersigned organizations demand that all appropriate procedures be followed for the release of all detainees who have completed their conditional/ temporary incarceration and all those who have been detained without any judicial orders or decisions from the prosecutor.
We also call for all the undersigned organizations to be allowed entry into Al-Aqrab Prison in order to investigate on whether International prison laws and regulations are actually being implemented or not in Al-Aqrab, and also to investigate on the extent of the prison’s administration’s commitment to implementing the prison regulations. Furthermore, we call for the undersigned organizations to communicate directly with Al-Aqrab prisoners in order to ascertain the credibility of the allegations of the Ministry of Interior affairs and the prison of their commitment to the implementation of proper laws.
#Close_Alaqrap
