Political activist dies in Egypt custody: Rights activists

Egyptian rights advocates have recorded the death of another political activist behind bars, in what is viewed as prison authorities’ negligence in dealing with those jailed for opposing the government, Press TV reports.

Human rights activists said Wednesday that Rifaat Radwan died in the Abu Za’abal prison in Qalyubia north of the capital Cairo

The prisoner, whose health condition had seriously deteriorated in the past few months, died because of what is said to be lack of medical services, rights activists in Qalyubia said.

Two years ago, 37 political activists were reportedly trapped in the back of a van and gassed to death outside the Abu Za’abal prison.

Radwan was arrested about a year ago when he was inside his house in Kafr Ajwa in the city of Zaqaziq northeast of Cairo. He was accused of operating for groups linked to the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement. He was also charged with taking part in “unauthorized” anti-government protests, and “incitement” against the military-backed government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

According to the rights groups, the death of Radwan is the ninth recorded among political detainees inside detention facilities over the past 12 days.

Among those who lost their lives in Egyptian custody were senior Brotherhood members and supporters of Anti-Coup Alliance.

Reports say at least five people detained over criminal charges have also died in detention facilities in Egypt over the past two weeks. That included three in the Shubra al-Kheimah police station in Qalyoubia, with authorities attributing their deaths to a scorching heatwave over the past days.

Hundreds of detainees have died in Egyptian detention facilities since Sisi ousted Egypt’s first democratically-elected president, Mohammed Morsi, in July 2013 in a coup.

Local and international rights organizations blame the rising figures on the “deliberate and systematic medical negligence” on the part of prison authorities as well as “unhealthy and inhumane” conditions in Egypt’s detention facilities.

They say at least 40,000 political detainees are believed to have been jailed in Egypt over the past two years.

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