The National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) will meet on Monday with the High Committee for Legislative Reform to discuss the council’s suggestions on new amendments to the Prisons Law, concerning prisoners conditions, presented by the Interior Ministry.
The council’s suggestions included allowing the entry of books, magazines and electronic devices disconnected from the internet to prisoners. NCHR also suggested releasing those who have served three quarters of their sentences as long as their release does not represent a “threat to public security.”
NCHR member Kamal Abbas told Mada Masr that the laws protecting prisoners are “insufficient and contradict the Egyptian constitution, furthermore we have some reservations on the amendments presented by the Interior Ministry.” First of all, according to Abbas, the amendments do not specify penalties for prisons that violate the law.
In addition, the Interior Ministry suggested that a six month maximum period for solitary confinement and NCHR believes this is a very long period given the conditions of solitary confinement prison cells that are completely “inhumane,” narrow, without proper ventilation or bathrooms.
“Solitary confinement facilities need to be organized and monitored,” explained Abbas.
Some viewed Interior Ministry amendments as an attempt to show a non-existent reality, mostly to give a better international reputation for the ministry’s human rights department.
Khaled Abdel Hamid, a Member of the “Freedom for the Brave” campaign, told Mada Masr: “Families of the prisoners wait for their relatives at the prison’s gates from 9am to 5pm and are subject to violations.”
“Prisoners are prevented from getting food from their families in order to pressure them to buy from the prison’s food outlet which is an extra burden on the families,” he said.
For him, this is an example of “normal issues” that occur on a daily basis inside prisons are not covered by the law. “Simply, there is a political will to harass prisoners and their families,” he asserted.
The Interior Ministry proposed several new articles, including enabling communication between prisoners and the outside world, regular visits by health ministry doctors, as well as extending the period an inmate can keep her baby in prison to four years instead of two.
The Interior Ministry also proposed extending the delay before executing a pregnant woman to two years after labor instead of two months, “in line with Islamic Sharia,” which stipulates that nursing should be for two years.
“One of the first amendments we proposed includes allowing the NCHR to visit the prison directly without a permit from the prosecution. We also requested permanent headquarters for the NCHR and other rights organizations inside prisons,” Abbas said.
He highlighted the need for a monitoring and supervisory body for prisons. “Prisons have a bad reputation and it has become a pressing issue,” Abbas said, “For example it is well known that the Abu Zaabal prison is a hub for such violations, whereas Tora Prison is the elite prison.”
This will remain the case until the Interior Ministry is reformed, he explained.
For her part, Yasmine Hossam al-Din, a human rights lawyer, doubted these amendments will have any true effect.
“The problem is not with the laws,” she told Mada Masr, “there are a lot of laws and bylaws and international treaties which, if activated, would mean justice and guarantee prisoners’ rights, but this is much more than a new law.”
She said that over the past two years, human rights lawyers have presented tens of complaints from prisoners who have allegedly been tortured to no avail. Even visits by the NCHR, she said, are only conducted after they get permit from the prosecution and in coordination with the prison authority.
“It therefore doesn’t serve its purpose in ensuring that already existing laws are enforced under these circumstances,” she said, “any legal amendments are pointless.”
