Does Egypt have its own Sednaya Prison?
Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre in Badr city, Egypt.
[KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images]
by Mahmoud Hassan
December 24, 2024
The horrific Sednaya Prison in Syria has thrown the spotlight on the reality of Egypt’s prisons, the files of those forgotten behind bars, and the fate of the victims of torture and forced disappearance during the rule of current Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
Thousands of Egyptian families fear a repeat of the Sednaya tragedy, given the continued detention of Al-Sisi’s political opponents since the July 2013 coup, including children, women, the ill and elderly. Imprisonment comes after trials that human rights organisations say lack international standards of justice and integrity.
“We don’t want to be like Syria,” said one Egyptian human rights initiative. This expresses the fears that haunt the families of detainees, and at the same time raises such questions as: Are there underground Egyptian prisons? Where are the forcibly disappeared victims? How many have been tortured or face medical negligence? Why doesn’t Egypt open its prisons to international inspections? Does Egypt have its own Sednaya Prison? Do Egyptian prisons adhere to international standards in terms of human rights?
Cemeteries of the living
Under the headline “Sednaya Egypt… the cemeteries of the living”, the London-based NGO Human Rights Egypt drew a map of the country’s notorious prisons, including Badr, Al-Abadiya, Al-Azouli, Burj Al-Arab, Abu Zaabal, Wadi Al-Natrun, Assiut Prison and New Valley. It called on the authorities in Cairo to empty Egyptian prisons of political detainees, and stop the violations committed against opponents of the regime inside these prisons.
There are 78 main prisons spread across Egypt, in addition to hundreds of detention centres and secret cells belonging to the National Security Agency, formerly State Security (an internal intelligence agency). These cells can be located inside police stations, or inside the agency’s headquarters in Egypt’s governorates.
READ: Middle East facing ‘unprecedented challenges’ Egypt President tells D-8 summit
One eyewitness told me that he worked on the construction of an underground prison cell in Sharqiya Governorate (Nile Delta), but refused to provide further details for fear of exposing his identity.
Political detainees suffer from a number of violations
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) in 2021 estimated the number of political detainees in Egypt at around 65,000. According to the NGO Egyptian Front for Human Rights, political detainees suffer from a number of violations, most notably solitary confinement in disciplinary rooms; beatings or what is known as “tashreefa” (a “welcome” ritual for new prisoners who are beaten with sticks and batons); the cutting off of water and electricity; deprivation of food, medicine, visits and exercise; the use of bright flashlights at night to prevent them from sleeping; round-the-clock surveillance; transfers to distant prisons; and the recycling of cases, meaning continued detention after the legal period of pretrial detention has expired.
Violations may move on to hanging and electric shocks, as was the case with lawyer Shaaban Mohamed, who was subjected to forced disappearance in a facility affiliated with the National Security Agency for six weeks last year, reported Amnesty International.
Elderly and sick people are also held behind bars, most notably the Muslim Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie (81 years old); his deputy Rashad Al-Bayoumi (89); former presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh (73); diplomat Mohamed Rifaa Al-Tahtawi (75); former Speaker of the People’s Assembly Mohamed Saad Al-Katatni (72); well-known Imam Hazem Abu Ismail (63); human rights activist Hoda Abdel Moneim (64); and economist Abdel Khaleq Farouk (67).
Egyptians complain that the number of victims of forced disappearance rose to 1,720 between September 2023 and August 2024, while the number of those forcibly disappeared stands at 18,439 since 2013, 65 of whom were killed extrajudicially according to data from the El-Shehab Centre for Human Rights based in London.
In addition to the victims of forced disappearance, the Geneva-based Committee of Justice documented 296 deaths inside Egyptian prisons from January 2020 to June 2024 and submitted the data in a report to the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Committee. The Interior Ministry narrative generally claims that detainees or prisoners have died after suffering a heart attack, or as a result of a sharp drop in blood pressure, and accuses the Muslim Brotherhood (classified by the authorities as a “terrorist” organisation) of spreading lies.
Propaganda tours
The Cairo authorities organised a tour this month for a delegation consisting of members of the Egyptian House of Representatives and Senate, in addition to UN and African Commission on Human Rights representatives, to examine the medical and educational services provided to prisoners in the Badr Correctional and Rehabilitation Centres Complex to the north east of Cairo.
Opposition leaders have been imprisoned for more than 11 years on politically-motivated charges
Human rights organisations question the seriousness of these visits, given that visitors are prevented from meeting with opposition leaders who have been imprisoned for more than 11 years on politically-motivated charges including “joining a terrorist group, harming national security, disturbing public peace, spreading false news, and misusing social media.”
READ: Morocco refuses to extradite Egyptian opposition figure, releases him
Last year, human rights sources reported that dozens of prisoners attempted suicide inside Badr 3 Prison due to the poor conditions, the ban on visits and being denied permission to receive meals from outside the prison. This was the subject of a complaint submitted by a number of prisoners’ families to the government’s National Council for Human Rights.
Earlier this year, ten human rights organisations expressed their deep concern about the rapid deterioration of conditions inside the Badr Rehabilitation and Reform Centre, stressing that the ongoing violations once again refute the Egyptian government’s claims that the complex is an example of improving prison conditions in the country. The NGOs noted that the prison authorities act with complete impunity and continue their practices which endanger the health and lives of hundreds of prisoners. The organisations that signed the statement were Middle East Democracy Centre (MEDC); HuMena for Human Rights and Civic Engagement; Law and Democracy Support Foundation (LDSF); Egyptian Front for Human Rights; El Nadeem Centre Against Violence and Torture; Refugees Platform in Egypt (RPE); Egyptian Human Rights Forum (EHRF); Sinai Foundation for Human Rights; Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS); and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.
Peaceful protest
Political researcher Amr Al-Masry said that the Arab Spring dismantled many of the tyrannical rulers’ prisons in the region, and that social media has shed light on some of them. “You may not find an equivalent to Sednaya in the Arab world, but caution is necessary,” he said.
The “prisons sector” is now “community protection sector”, and “prisoners” are now “inmates”
In September 2021, Al-Sisi announced the opening of the largest new prison complex in Wadi El Natrun, one of seven or eight that will opened in Egypt with the aim of “providing livelihoods, medical and humanitarian care for detainees, and treating detainees in a humane manner. The term “prisons sector” has been changed to “community protection sector”, and “prisoners” are now “inmates”. This prompted widespread mockery of the state’s celebration of the opening of new prisons.
READ: Egypt court upholds sentence against ex-presidential hopeful Ahmed Tantawy
Egyptian opposition members living in the British city of Manchester tried a few days ago to draw attention to Al-Sisi’s prisons, comparing the Egyptian president with his ousted Syrian counterpart. He has, they claimed, turned Egypt into a large prison. Their slogans included “Sisi is Bashar… always imprisoning free people”. The demonstrators demanded that international human rights organisations should be allowed to inspect Egyptian prisons, and that those responsible for torture and violations against political opponents must be held accountable.
Human rights activist Haitham Ghoneim launched a campaign on Facebook to document the data of those forcibly disappeared, calling on their families to post “a recent photo of the missing detainee, their full name, date of birth, date of forced disappearance, place of arrest or disappearance, the last known location of their detention, and any other useful information.” The families engaged in the initiative and posted photos and information about their relatives, most of them young, along with the facts of their disappearances.
Former parliamentarian Mustafa Al-Najjar’s fate is still unknown to his family since his disappearance in 2018. The same can be said about activists and political opponents arrested during the massacres when the Rabaa and Nahda protest sit-ins were dispersed with great violence in August 2013. All of them were supporters of the now late President Mohamed Morsi.
A human rights source who requested anonymity stressed the need to subject Egyptian prisons to human rights and international inspections, enable independent human rights organisations to inspect the National Security Agency headquarters, resolve the issue of pretrial detainees, reveal the fate of victims of forced disappearance, and release all political prisoners immediately.
People on the Egyptian street remain haunted by fears of a repeat of the Sednaya tragedy. Their fears are serious, and they need reassurances and positive steps by the Cairo regime to improve its reputation on the one hand and avoid the fate of Bashar Al-Assad on the other.
December 24, 2024
Thousands of Egyptian families fear a repeat of the Sednaya tragedy, given the continued detention of Al-Sisi’s political opponents since the July 2013 coup, including children, women, the ill and elderly. Imprisonment comes after trials that human rights organisations say lack international standards of justice and integrity.
“We don’t want to be like Syria,” said one Egyptian human rights initiative. This expresses the fears that haunt the families of detainees, and at the same time raises such questions as: Are there underground Egyptian prisons? Where are the forcibly disappeared victims? How many have been tortured or face medical negligence? Why doesn’t Egypt open its prisons to international inspections? Does Egypt have its own Sednaya Prison? Do Egyptian prisons adhere to international standards in terms of human rights?
Cemeteries of the living
Under the headline “Sednaya Egypt… the cemeteries of the living”, the London-based NGO Human Rights Egypt drew a map of the country’s notorious prisons, including Badr, Al-Abadiya, Al-Azouli, Burj Al-Arab, Abu Zaabal, Wadi Al-Natrun, Assiut Prison and New Valley. It called on the authorities in Cairo to empty Egyptian prisons of political detainees, and stop the violations committed against opponents of the regime inside these prisons.
There are 78 main prisons spread across Egypt, in addition to hundreds of detention centres and secret cells belonging to the National Security Agency, formerly State Security (an internal intelligence agency). These cells can be located inside police stations, or inside the agency’s headquarters in Egypt’s governorates.
READ: Middle East facing ‘unprecedented challenges’ Egypt President tells D-8 summit
One eyewitness told me that he worked on the construction of an underground prison cell in Sharqiya Governorate (Nile Delta), but refused to provide further details for fear of exposing his identity.
Political detainees suffer from a number of violations
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) in 2021 estimated the number of political detainees in Egypt at around 65,000. According to the NGO Egyptian Front for Human Rights, political detainees suffer from a number of violations, most notably solitary confinement in disciplinary rooms; beatings or what is known as “tashreefa” (a “welcome” ritual for new prisoners who are beaten with sticks and batons); the cutting off of water and electricity; deprivation of food, medicine, visits and exercise; the use of bright flashlights at night to prevent them from sleeping; round-the-clock surveillance; transfers to distant prisons; and the recycling of cases, meaning continued detention after the legal period of pretrial detention has expired.
Violations may move on to hanging and electric shocks, as was the case with lawyer Shaaban Mohamed, who was subjected to forced disappearance in a facility affiliated with the National Security Agency for six weeks last year, reported Amnesty International.
Elderly and sick people are also held behind bars, most notably the Muslim Brotherhood’s Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie (81 years old); his deputy Rashad Al-Bayoumi (89); former presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh (73); diplomat Mohamed Rifaa Al-Tahtawi (75); former Speaker of the People’s Assembly Mohamed Saad Al-Katatni (72); well-known Imam Hazem Abu Ismail (63); human rights activist Hoda Abdel Moneim (64); and economist Abdel Khaleq Farouk (67).
Egyptians complain that the number of victims of forced disappearance rose to 1,720 between September 2023 and August 2024, while the number of those forcibly disappeared stands at 18,439 since 2013, 65 of whom were killed extrajudicially according to data from the El-Shehab Centre for Human Rights based in London.
In addition to the victims of forced disappearance, the Geneva-based Committee of Justice documented 296 deaths inside Egyptian prisons from January 2020 to June 2024 and submitted the data in a report to the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Committee. The Interior Ministry narrative generally claims that detainees or prisoners have died after suffering a heart attack, or as a result of a sharp drop in blood pressure, and accuses the Muslim Brotherhood (classified by the authorities as a “terrorist” organisation) of spreading lies.
Propaganda tours
The Cairo authorities organised a tour this month for a delegation consisting of members of the Egyptian House of Representatives and Senate, in addition to UN and African Commission on Human Rights representatives, to examine the medical and educational services provided to prisoners in the Badr Correctional and Rehabilitation Centres Complex to the north east of Cairo.
Opposition leaders have been imprisoned for more than 11 years on politically-motivated charges
Human rights organisations question the seriousness of these visits, given that visitors are prevented from meeting with opposition leaders who have been imprisoned for more than 11 years on politically-motivated charges including “joining a terrorist group, harming national security, disturbing public peace, spreading false news, and misusing social media.”
READ: Morocco refuses to extradite Egyptian opposition figure, releases him
Last year, human rights sources reported that dozens of prisoners attempted suicide inside Badr 3 Prison due to the poor conditions, the ban on visits and being denied permission to receive meals from outside the prison. This was the subject of a complaint submitted by a number of prisoners’ families to the government’s National Council for Human Rights.
Earlier this year, ten human rights organisations expressed their deep concern about the rapid deterioration of conditions inside the Badr Rehabilitation and Reform Centre, stressing that the ongoing violations once again refute the Egyptian government’s claims that the complex is an example of improving prison conditions in the country. The NGOs noted that the prison authorities act with complete impunity and continue their practices which endanger the health and lives of hundreds of prisoners. The organisations that signed the statement were Middle East Democracy Centre (MEDC); HuMena for Human Rights and Civic Engagement; Law and Democracy Support Foundation (LDSF); Egyptian Front for Human Rights; El Nadeem Centre Against Violence and Torture; Refugees Platform in Egypt (RPE); Egyptian Human Rights Forum (EHRF); Sinai Foundation for Human Rights; Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS); and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.
Peaceful protest
Political researcher Amr Al-Masry said that the Arab Spring dismantled many of the tyrannical rulers’ prisons in the region, and that social media has shed light on some of them. “You may not find an equivalent to Sednaya in the Arab world, but caution is necessary,” he said.
The “prisons sector” is now “community protection sector”, and “prisoners” are now “inmates”
In September 2021, Al-Sisi announced the opening of the largest new prison complex in Wadi El Natrun, one of seven or eight that will opened in Egypt with the aim of “providing livelihoods, medical and humanitarian care for detainees, and treating detainees in a humane manner. The term “prisons sector” has been changed to “community protection sector”, and “prisoners” are now “inmates”. This prompted widespread mockery of the state’s celebration of the opening of new prisons.
READ: Egypt court upholds sentence against ex-presidential hopeful Ahmed Tantawy
Egyptian opposition members living in the British city of Manchester tried a few days ago to draw attention to Al-Sisi’s prisons, comparing the Egyptian president with his ousted Syrian counterpart. He has, they claimed, turned Egypt into a large prison. Their slogans included “Sisi is Bashar… always imprisoning free people”. The demonstrators demanded that international human rights organisations should be allowed to inspect Egyptian prisons, and that those responsible for torture and violations against political opponents must be held accountable.
Human rights activist Haitham Ghoneim launched a campaign on Facebook to document the data of those forcibly disappeared, calling on their families to post “a recent photo of the missing detainee, their full name, date of birth, date of forced disappearance, place of arrest or disappearance, the last known location of their detention, and any other useful information.” The families engaged in the initiative and posted photos and information about their relatives, most of them young, along with the facts of their disappearances.
Former parliamentarian Mustafa Al-Najjar’s fate is still unknown to his family since his disappearance in 2018. The same can be said about activists and political opponents arrested during the massacres when the Rabaa and Nahda protest sit-ins were dispersed with great violence in August 2013. All of them were supporters of the now late President Mohamed Morsi.
A human rights source who requested anonymity stressed the need to subject Egyptian prisons to human rights and international inspections, enable independent human rights organisations to inspect the National Security Agency headquarters, resolve the issue of pretrial detainees, reveal the fate of victims of forced disappearance, and release all political prisoners immediately.
People on the Egyptian street remain haunted by fears of a repeat of the Sednaya tragedy. Their fears are serious, and they need reassurances and positive steps by the Cairo regime to improve its reputation on the one hand and avoid the fate of Bashar Al-Assad on the other.
Opinion
What does Assad's downfall mean for Sisi's regime?
What does Assad's downfall mean for Sisi's regime?
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi gives a speech in Cairo, Egypt on June 30, 2024 [Egyptian Presidency/Anadolu Agency]
MEMO
December 17, 2024
by Mahmoud Hassan
The fall of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime last week has triggered contrasting reactions in Egypt. While the Egyptian public has welcomed the development with joy and hope, the ruling circles are visibly anxious and fearful. This dichotomy reflects Egyptian aspirations for potential change from the iron grip that’s working on prolonging the rule of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
Over the past decade, tens of thousands of Sisi’s opponents have languished in prisons that opposition groups describe as resembling Syria’s notorious Sednaya Prison. Human rights reports indicate hundreds of deaths in custody due to medical negligence and torture.
Cairo’s response to the Syrian developments has been cautious and apprehensive, adopting a tone of fear about the possible division of Syria and the spread of terrorism. It also cast doubt on the accounts of Syrians regarding the torture they endured in Assad’s prisons.
One journalist and parliamentarian close to the Egyptian authorities, Mostafa Bakry, warned on his TV show “Facts and Secret” broadcast on private satellite channel Sada El-Balad, that, “If Damascus falls, Cairo must prepare for a battle of destiny.” He expressed his sadness over Assad’s downfall and scepticism about the crimes committed in an article under the headline “The Story of Sednaya Prison: Facts or Fiction”.
Another media personality threatened Syrians in Egypt with deportation if they celebrated Assad’s fall
Similarly, Amr Adib warned on his show “The Story” on MBC Egypt that Syria’s future could involve division or the total collapse of state institutions. Another media personality with ties to the Egyptian security agencies, Ahmed Moussa, threatened Syrians in Egypt with deportation if they celebrated Assad’s fall, claiming on Sada El-Balad that Syria is on the verge of civil war.
Aside from warnings about the Syrian scenario, Egyptian TV channels avoided covering celebrations of Assad’s downfall. They continued to air entertainment and sports programmes as if nothing significant was happening in a fellow Arab nation with close ties to Egypt.
On the ground, heightened security measures were evident in Greater Cairo, with the authorities preventing Syrian residents from celebrating. According to the NGO Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, 30 Syrians in 6th of October City were arrested at random. There are approximately 1.5 million Syrians in Egypt, mainly in Greater Cairo, where they work in commerce and industry, particularly in 6th of October City west of the capital.
READ: Syria retains 26 tons of gold reserves after Assad’s fall — sources
Politically, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a statement expressing concern over Syria’s situation, reaffirming Egypt’s support for Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity while urging all Syrian parties to prioritise the nation’s interests. Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aty restated support for the Syrian state recently, its sovereignty and the unity and integrity of its territories, during a phone call with the former regime’s Foreign Minister, Bassam Sabbagh. This was just days before the collapse of the Syrian army and the loss of an opportunity to coordinate and accelerate joint support with Gulf allies to save Assad.
Ever since the 2013 coup, the Egyptian regime has used scare tactics encapsulated in the phrase, “So that we don’t become like Syria or Iraq,” to justify its authoritarian grip. This scare tactic has been used heavily in the electoral and media campaigns of the current president to intimidate Egyptians with the Syrian scenario and to push them to accept the formula of “authoritarianism in exchange for security”.
That propaganda has collapsed, and the scare tactic has now shifted to Al-Sisi’s regime, which fears the resurgence of hope among the 25 January, 2011 revolutionaries who toppled the rule of the late President Hosni Mubarak. What is happening in Syria reflects genuine concerns in Cairo about the potential success of such an experience, which could, in the future, become a model to be emulated in neighbouring countries.
The Syrian revolution proved that the people, not the army, are the foundation of the state
Gamal Sultan is an Egyptian opposition figure who lives abroad. “One of the biggest fears of the ruling regime in Egypt now is that the success of the Syrian revolution undermines their repeated claim that ‘Egypt is the army, and if the army collapses, the state is lost’,” he wrote on Facebook. “In Syria, the army dissolved, but the state survived. People’s living conditions improved, life became more organised, and institutions started functioning normally again. The Syrian revolution proved that the people, not the army, are the foundation of the state.”
The Egyptian president warned once again during a meeting with army and police leaders last Sunday, “Those who make decisions in Syria are the people of the country, they can either destroy it or rebuild it.”
In 2016, Al-Sisi declared his support for the Syrian army, emphasising that supporting national armies was one of Egypt’s priorities. He also led regional efforts to lift the international isolation of Assad and restore Syria’s membership at the Arab League in May 2023.
In light of this, developments in Syria remain troubling and perhaps frightening for the Egyptian president, who likely did not anticipate such a swift collapse of Assad’s regime. He was, after all, standing beside him in the group photo of leaders at the Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh last month.
With security concerns dominating the Egyptian position, fears are intensifying over the potential emergence of revolutionary waves that could spark popular movements on the streets. These movements might succeed in returning to Tahrir Square — the iconic symbol of the January 2011 Revolution — especially with the 14th anniversary of the revolution approaching next month.
Political analyst Mohamed El-Sayed explained Egypt’s concern over the success of the Syrian revolution as reflecting the stance of counter-revolution states that fight against Islamists. Part of this concern, he noted, stems from comparisons between Syria’s Sednaya Prison and Badr Prison east of Cairo, which has been dubbed “Egypt’s Sednaya”. There is also fear that the scenario where an army that’s been driven by an individual like Bashar al-Assad collapses, could happen in Egypt. There is concern that the Egyptian army might collapse under the weight of public anger or simply in order to sacrifice Al-Sisi.
Demoralised and abandoned by allies: why Assad’s army failed to fight in Syria
In addition to fears that the Syrian revolution might inspire Egyptians, the situation becomes even more complex with the growing Turkish influence in Syria, the collapse of the Syrian army, and the control of Islamic factions over the situation there. These developments do not serve Egypt’s national security and place significant pressure on Al-Sisi’s regime.
Israel’s chief of staff and the head of its Shin Bet internal security agency visited Cairo last week to discuss with Egyptian officials the repercussions of Assad’s ousting and the need to take preventive measures. This comes amid fears of a renewed uprising in other countries, including Egypt, according to the Israeli newspaper Maariv.
Meanwhile, there are positive signals for the Egyptian opposition following the fall of Assad. These could translate into actions on the ground, not by replicating the Syrian experience, but by learning from it to reorganise opposition ranks and agree on a roadmap for national salvation.
There are growing calls for the regime in Cairo to implement major reforms
According to a prominent Egyptian opposition figure who spoke to me on condition of anonymity, the success of the Syrian revolution has revived hope among advocates of change in the region, especially in Egypt, after years of despair. There are growing calls for the regime in Cairo to implement major reforms urgently to save itself and Egypt from a similar fate.
The Egyptian opposition hopes that the fall of Assad will drive real progress in the country, helping Egypt to avoid the Syrian scenario. This would spare the army from any potential confrontation with the Egyptian people and create a suitable environment for comprehensive national reconciliation.
The Socialist Popular Alliance Party has proposed a roadmap to this end, starting with restoring freedoms, releasing prisoners of conscience, lifting restrictions on political parties and unions, ensuring media freedom and judicial independence, and forming a government and parliament that express the people’s will, away from the control of the security agencies. It also calls for a return to the 2014 Constitution to ensure limits on the president’s term in office and powers.
A former advisor to the minister of local development questioned whether the Egyptian regime will learn from the Syrian experience. In a Facebook post, Essam Lala said that Egypt can avoid Syria’s fate by “establishing elected institutions that are accountable, imposing strict oversight to ensure adherence to laws without discrimination or favouritism, eliminating special privileges for any party, and employing qualified professionals without linking their selection to political or security loyalties.” He added that it also requires building a civil state that depends on pluralism and the peaceful transfer of power.”
Finally, the Egyptian regime may delay rapprochement with the new authority in Syria, but such hesitation may not be wise regarding reconciliation with its own people. Positive steps are needed to diffuse the growing but still hidden anger caused by the continued detention of thousands of innocent people, worsening economic and living conditions, and the increasing dominance of the generals over the nation’s wealth.
READ: Lebanon to reopen embassy in Damascus following Syrian regime collapse
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
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