Parliament’s HR committee visits prisons after HRW report

CAIRO – 12 September 2017: The Human Rights Committee is forming a new minor committee that will be responsible for conducing field visits to Egypt’s prisons to ensure that no violations are committed, MP Alaa Abed, chairperson of the Parliament’s Human Rights’ committee stated.

Abed further stated that the said minor committee, which comprises of seven MPs, would be provided with a map encompassing prisons all over Egypt and then alloted field visits to seven prisons and police stations for each and every time.
“If we find any violations, whether in prisons or the police stations, they will be announced immediately," said Abed added.

This move is viewed as a response to the Human Rights Watch report that alleges that police and security forces employ “systematic use of torture” against prison inmates, which the Foreign Ministry described as ungrounded claims.

“Complaints of human rights violations are received and addressed, within the principles of the Egyptian Constitution, where they go through independent and unbiased investigation. Media and civil society organizations also play a role to spot such violations,” said Abu Zeid.

The ministry further condemned that the group deliberately ignored the progress made in the field of promoting human rights in Egypt over the past few years, demonstrating its deliberate intention to promote and incite violence.

The Interior Ministry has persistently distanced itself from the use of systematic torture going on inside Egypt’s prisons, confirming that there have been “singular incidents” and were individuals proven to be involved in such crimes were immediately held accountable.

The Ministry of Interior's prison sector service brushed off the HRW allegations of the ill treatment of inmates in Egypt's prisons in a statement released on Wednesday, confirming the ministry's keenness to maintain and uphold the values of prisoners’ human rights.