Video: Human rights, media delegation reflect on visit to Egypt’s Torah Prison

CAIRO – 19 January 2021: A delegation of foreign journalists, members of human rights councils and religious clerics were allowed an inspection visit to Torah Prison, where they viewed inmates’ conditions and reflected on health and social care inside.

The visit, organized by Egypt’s Interior Ministry, was documented in a five-minute video released by the ministry Tuesday.

The ministry said it aims this tour allows visitors to get acquainted with the methods of rehabilitation and means of care provided to inmates. It also stressed its commitment to applying modern penal policy methods in rehabilitation and care provided to inmates, especially the health affairs.

On the sidelines of the visit, Samir Omar, director of Sky News office in Cairo, said “undoubtedly, what we have seen in these visits confirms that what is often promoted [about the prisons] is not true… and that the Egyptian authority is committed to the law and constitution in these prisons, which is a good thing that should continue.”

For his part, Mohamed Imam, the head of the Foreign Correspondents Center in Cairo said that a total of 19 foreign institutions meet with inmates to view the status of the medical and therapeutic care provided to them.

Mohsen Awad, a member of the National Council for Human Rights, said that what he and the delegation saw during the visit is “completely different” from the status of the prisons in the past. “We hope that hospitals in Egypt would be equipped the same way like that inside the prison,” Awad added.

“Sections are very organized I think... I am very impressed,” Tomonori Fojiyoshi, director of NHK Japan News office in Cairo.

A prisoner laying on a bed inside a clinic said that “family visits are regular, medical care is available at high level as well as books, and there are fixed times for exercise.”

Side of the visit showed religious seminars that are held periodically for Muslims and Christian inmates.

The visiting delegation also viewed products, including high-quality handicrafts that were made by the inmates themselves.

The video highlighted health measures that were taken to upgrade the health care at prisons “through clinics and medical convoys that are dispatched to prisons and adherence to all human rights standards,” as it said.