Egypt prison deaths a 'warning sign' as conditions deteriorate sharply
At least a dozen detainees have died in Egyptian prisons this year amid deteriorating conditions, rights groups have reported.
According to the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), 13 people have died in prison due to medical negligence, ill treatment and suicide in the first few months of 2025, while the Committee for Justice (CFJ) puts the number at 11.
Rights activists and journalists have reported that four detainees have died due to medical negligence, while two other men - a detainee and a former detainee - attempted suicide in April alone. Most of them were being held at Badr 3 prison near Cairo, a facility that has become notorious for its prisoner abuses.
On 12 April, 26-year-old detainee Mahmoud Asaad died in custody at al-Khalifa Police Station in Cairo, days after his arrest.
A relative reported that the police initially denied his death, but then claimed he had died due to injuries sustained in a fight with other detainees. The relative added that video recordings of Asaad's body revealed visible signs of torture.
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The authorities instructed the family to promptly collect his body, but they refused, demanding an autopsy.
According to Asaad’s mother, he was placed in solitary confinement and denied food and family visits due to his alleged involvement in the fight.
His death shortly followed that of Mohamed Hassan Hilal on 8 April. A 33-year-old engineering student, Hilal, died in custody at Badr 3 prison after suffering a fatal brain haemorrhage reportedly due to medical negligence.
'Even if it’s one person who died because of struggling to access the right medicine and treatment, it’s a crime'
- Ahmed Attar, Egyptian Network for Human Rights
According to Egyptian journalist Mosad Al-Barbary, Hilal arrived at the intensive care unit at Qasr al-Aini hospital in Cairo “unconscious and in critical condition”. Medical reports stated that he had suffered a fractured skull and underwent brain surgery to stop the bleeding.
Hilal’s relatives said that, despite his condition, he remained shackled to the hospital bed.
CFJ reported that Hilal’s injuries are “suspected to have resulted from severe torture or systematic physical assault”.
However, according to Barbary, sources familiar with Hilal’s case said that while there is no evidence of torture or assault during Hilal’s detention, he had been subjected to “severe psychological distress”.
Prior to his transfer to the hospital, Hilal reportedly suffered a severe headache, believed to be linked to a spike in blood pressure.
A warning sign
CFJ documented the death of another Badr 3 detainee, Yasser Mohamed el-Kheshab, on 11 April. Kheshab reportedly died while undergoing open heart surgery at the prison hospital.
According to Ahmed Attar, director of the Egyptian Network for Human Rights (ENHR), the exact causes of detainee deaths are hard to determine.
“We can’t always tell if it’s medical negligence. But even if it’s one person who died because of struggling to access the right medicine and treatment, it’s a crime,” Attar told Middle East Eye.
What's clear, Attar said, is that detention conditions across Egyptian prisons are sharply deteriorating. He explained, too, that as prison populations age and are systematically denied treatment, the situation is set to worsen.
Ahmed Attalla, director of the Egyptian Front for Human Rights, told MEE: "Especially for detainees who are in their 60s or 70s, they don’t get enough medical treatment to live long lives.”
Rights groups have documented surging abuses in Egyptian prisons since President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi came to power in 2014.
While official figures are cloaked in secrecy, under Sisi, Egypt's prison population is estimated to have swelled to around 120,000 as of 2022, despite the prison system’s capacity being at 55,000 in 2020.
The surge has resulted in dangerous overcrowding, crumbling infrastructure and further exacerbated poor detention conditions.
Campaigners say that the latest spate of detainee deaths stands as a “warning sign indicating the deepening rights crisis in the country” and evidence of the systematic nature of detainee abuse.
According to ECRF, "medical negligence" is cited as the cause of death in the majority of cases. The group notes that 86 percent of the detainees who died this year were political prisoners.
‘Psychologically devastated’
In addition to the deaths, two young men - a detainee and a former detainee - attempted suicide in recent weeks.
On 9 April, recently released prisoner Sameh Saudi was hospitalised after slashing his wrists in a live stream online. Egyptian rights activist and journalist Haytham Abokhalil reported that Saudi was “psychologically devastated” following his release.
At Badr 3, shortly after Hilal’s death, 29-year-old Alaa Gamal was found hanging in his cell.
According to El Shehab Center for Human Rights (SHR), Gamal, who had been serving a 15-year sentence, was subjected to “abuse, a ban on visits and the confiscation of his belongings” prior to the suicide attempt.
The rights group said that Gamal had recently been granted a long-awaited visit from his family, but a state security officer, identified as Marwan Hammad, did not let his family members come in with the items that they had brought.
After threatening to take his own life in protest, Gamal was placed in solitary confinement. He was later found hanging in his cell on 14 April. Sources familiar with the case told MEE that Gamal survived and is currently receiving treatment in a hospital.
MEE understands that detainees at Badr 3 launched a partial hunger strike at the beginning of April to protest visitation bans.
However, following Hilal’s death and Gamal’s suicide attempt, they escalated to a full hunger strike, with some disabling surveillance cameras and igniting fires inside their cells.
In a statement, the SHR highlighted “the significant increase in violations at the Badr 3 Prison” and a corresponding “spike” in detainee deaths.
Waves of hunger strikes
The Badr prison complex, which was opened in 2021 and touted by Sisi as evidence of Egypt’s prison reform, has seen successive waves of hunger strikes by detainees over its poor conditions and escalating abuses.
Rights groups have documented a slew of prisoner deaths and suicide attempts at the facility, detailing abuses such as visitation bans, 24-hour exposure to fluorescent lights, medical negligence and torture, including by electrocution and being chained to walls.
In May 2024, the prison suffered an eight-day-long power outage, knocking out ventilation systems amid soaring temperatures.
Throughout the blackout, surveillance cameras continued to operate and prisoners continued to be exposed to round-the-clock fluorescent lighting.
When detainees responded with a hunger strike, prison authorities carried out the forced transfer of around 50 prisoners who participated in the strike.
Those who remained were handcuffed whenever they left their cells and subjected to increased cell inspections and night searches.
On 9 July, a detainee attempted suicide during a visit from his mother after the prison authorities rejected his request to allow her to bring his books for his medical exams. His mother died two days later.
‘Safe country of origin’
For one researcher at ENHR, who could not be named for security reasons, medical negligence in Egypt's prisons stems from a systematic contempt by the authorities towards political prisoners.
"When it comes to medical issues, if you are a patient suffering from serious medical conditions, no one cares. You deserve it because you're a criminal," they said.
"Since mid-2024, we have seen a rise in detention, overcrowding, poor detainee health and serious violence inside police stations and detention centres," Sara Hamza, legal researcher and data manager at ECRF, told MEE.
In recent months, Egypt has enjoyed reduced international scrutiny over its rights abuses due to its role in Israel’s war on Gaza and its strategic importance in the region for the US and the EU.
“Since [President Donald] Trump came to power, there have been no questions from the US regarding human rights,” Attalla said. “There are no statements that make any mention of human rights”.
On Wednesday, the European Commission issued new guidelines, which listed Egypt alongside six other “safe countries of origin”.
In January this year, the EU signed off on a payment of €1bn ($8.6bn) to Cairo - part of an unprecedented payout of €7.5bn - intended to boost Egypt’s struggling economy and stymie migration to Europe.
The aid package was based on an assessment conducted last October, which found that Cairo had taken “credible steps” to address human rights violations relating to pre-trial detention and criminal procedures law.
However, rights activists said the assessment was “deliberately misleading” and that the EU made “one concession after another” to expedite the payment in its bid to curb migration.
“We shouldn’t expect to see change,” Attalla said. “People are getting older and older, and with negligence and mistreatment, maybe the numbers of deaths will increase.”
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