Arabisc: Egypt – The Home of Thousands of Political Prisoners

Egyptian blogger Ala'a Abdulfatah claims that there are thousands of political prisoners in his country, who are behind bars without trial.

مصر فيها ألاف المعتقلين السياسيين، محدش يعرف عددهم بالظبط لكن عارفين كويس مدى الظلم الواقع عليهم و البهدلة اللي بتحصلهم، من أول معتقلي الجهاد للي محبوسين من الثمانينات لمعتقلي الجماعة اللي محبوسين من التسعينات لحد معتقلي السلفيين اللي بيتقبض عليهم النهاردة، و كله من غير محاكمة. مش بس من غير محاكمة، ده المحكمة بتحكم بالبرائة و الافراج و يستمر الاعتقال.
“Egypt has thousands of political prisoners. Nobody knows their exact number but we know precisely the extent of injustice they are exposed to and the humiliation they suffer from. They include the first Jihad detainees, who were arrested in the 80s; the Muslim Brotherhood prisoners who were held in the 90s; as well as the Salafi prisoners, who are being arrested today. They are all thrown in jail and all this is happening without them standing trial. And not only are they not standing trial.. but the court finds them not guilty and orders their release.. but they continue to languish in prison.”

To draw attention to the plight of such prisoners, Abdulfattah and another blogger Malek, interviewed the parents of one prisoner as well as a lawyer involved in similar cases.

ده فيديو بسيط عملناه أنا و مالك مع والدي المعتقل عبد المنعم جمال الدين و فيه تعليقات من الأستاذ أخمد سيف الاسلام المحامي بمركز هشام مبارك للقانون عن أوضاع المعتقلين في مصر، الفيديو تم تحضيره بكاميرا محدودة الامكانيات جدا و أحنا طبعا لا لينا في السينما و لا بتاع فيا ريت تتغاضو عن المستوى الفني السيئ و مشاكل الشوشرة و خلافه. يتبع الفيديو روابط لتدوينات و مقالات عن عبد المنعم.
“This is a simple video I and Malek made with the parents of the detainee Abdulmonem Jamaluddin. There are also comments by the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre (Ar) lawyer Ahmed Saif-ul-Islam, who speaks about the conditions of detainees in Egypt. The video was filmed using a camera with modest capabilities and we obviously have nothing to do with cinema and filming. I would therefore like you to turn a blind eye to the low quality, sound problems and other technical issues. I also link to other posts and articles about Abdulmonem,” he writes.


Who is Abdulmonem Jamaluddin?

* اعتقل عقب اغتيال السادات في 1981
* قضى ثلاث سنوات متنقلا ما بين سجون طره و أبي زعبل و الوادي الجديد بدون توجيه تهم أو محاكمة ثم أفرج عنه
* تم اعتقاله للمرة الثانية عام 1993
* برأته المحكمة العسكرية في قضية طلائع الفتح سنة 1993 لكن استمر اعتقاله
* في 1999 اتهم في قضية العائدين من ألبانيا (رغم أنه كان معتقل منذ 1993) و برأته المحكمة العسكرية مرة ثانية و مع ذلك لا يزال في المعتقل
* تزوج قبل الاعتقال الثاني بفترة بسيطة و له ابن عمره 13 سنة لم يراه أبدأ
* بسبب سوء الأوضاع في السجون تحول من شاب الي كهل مصاب بأمراض الكلى و الكبد و انزلاق في الغضاريف
According to Abdulfattah, he was:
“*Arrested after the assassination of Sadat in 1981
*Spent three years being transferred between the prisons of Turrah, Abu Za'abal and Al Wadi Al Jadeed, without any charges and then released
* Arrested for the second time in 1993
* He was acquitted by the Military Court but continued to remain in prison
* In 1999, he was charged in the case of those who have returned from Albania (although he had been in prison since 1993) and the court again acquitted him but he continues to remain behind bars
* He got married before his second arrest and has a 13-year-old son he had never seen
* Because of the bad treatment in prison he turned from a young to an old man, who suffers from kidney and liver problems as well as slipped discs in his back.”

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