Cairo: Egypt’s chief prosecutor Hesham Barakat on Saturday ordered an urgent inquiry into the death of a prisoner after rights advocates claimed he died due to lack of health care, a case echoing mounting allegations of deaths in police custody.
Mohammad Abdullah, who was detained in the Wadi Al Natrun prison complex north-west of Cairo, died late last month after suffering from severe pulmonary pains, the Insan Centre for Human Rights said in a report filed with the top prosecutor.
Abdullah was taken to the prison hospital, was allegedly left without medical assistance and died shortly after.
His death angered other inmates who held a protest that prompted the prison administration to issue a “false” medical report clearing the hospital of omission, the centre claimed.
The watchdog accused the Interior Ministry, which manages prisons in Egypt, and the administration of Wadi Al Natrun Prison of fatal negligence.
Several local and foreign rights groups have recently cited an alleged spike in abuses in Egypt since the military deposed Islamist president Mohammad Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood last year.
Earlier this month, Amnesty International reported a surge in arbitrary arrests, detentions and incidents of torture and deaths in police custody.
According to WikiThawra, an initiative run by the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social rights, at least 80 people have died in custody and more than 40,000 people were detained or indicted between July 2013 and mid-May 2014.
Egyptian authorities have repeatedly denied the accusations, saying such reports were “biased and full of inaccuracies”.
Last week, the Interior Ministry denied purported use of torture against prisoners in Wadi Al Natrun, where many Brotherhood followers are being held, and called the allegations “false”.