Egyptian detainees on hunger strike as families protest

Mar 22, 2011, 15:17 GMT

Cairo - Relatives of at least 80 political prisoners, who are on hunger strike in prison, held a demonstration in Cairo on Tuesday, accusing the government of holding them without charge.

'With the demise of the corrupt regime and its corrupt methods, should be the release of political prisoners,' a source from within Tora Prison, where the prisoners are held, told the German Press Agency dpa.

The Interior Ministry released hundreds of political prisoners after the ouster of president Hosny Mubarak from power last month, but a source inside Tora Prison said no order had been given for the release of prisoners there.

The source, who wished to remain anonymous, told dpa that one of the prisoners has been held for 20 years without charge.

'All these years wasted is sinful. God will hold to account anyone who can do something to help and hasn't,' said the source.

Meanwhile, an Interior Ministry official acknowledged on Tuesday that the majority of the approximately 80 prisoners held in Tora Prison have not been charged and have not had faced trial.

The official told dpa that 26 prisoners are being held there for affiliations with extremist or terrorist groups, but that they have also not faced trial.

Other prisoners were arrested for writing on Facebook and speaking to the media about the alleged torture and death of Sayed Bilal at the hands of the State Security Investigations Services (SSIS), according to the prison source.

Bilal was one of several followers of the strict Islamic Salafist doctrine. He was arrested in the wake of the church bombing in the coastal city of Alexandria on New Year's Eve, which left over 20 people dead.

Lawyers have submitted requests to the country's state prosecutor to investigate allegations that Mubarak's former Interior minister, Habib al-Adly, was linked to the bombing.

Bilal's lawyers accused the SSIS of using violence, which led to Bilal's death one day after his arrest, and of using threats and bribery to pressure family members not to testify or press charges against police.

Detainee Ibrahim Abaza's relatives said he and a number of the other striking prisoners had witnessed security forces torturing Bilal, and that they are being held to prevent their testimony from being heard.

The controversial and widely despised SSIS was dissolved this month after nationwide protests called for the agency's demise.

Rights groups have repeatedly condemned Egyptian security forces for both the use of torture and illegal detentions.

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