Two political detainees in Egypt reportedly die over 24 hours from medical negligence: rights group

Two political detainees reportedly lost their lives over 24 hours after being subjected to medical negligence inside Egyptian prisons, according to a local rights group.

On Sunday Madeen Hasanien, 63, a leader at Ansar El-Sharia Islamist group, died at Assuit hospital in southern Egypt while he was receiving treatment after his case deteriorated, the Egyptian Network for Human Rights (ENHR) reported in a statement the following day.

His family has been informed of his death to receive the body for burial service. No further details were immediately available about the cause of death.

The monitoring sector at ENHR is currently investigating the cause of death and the circumstances surrounding the incident, the statement read.

Hasanien had been detained by the Sudanese authorities in November 2018 and deported to Egypt's state security headquarters in northern Sharqiya province in September of the following year to appear more than one month later before a state security prosecutor who ordered his detention.  

In a separate incident one day earlier, the medical condition of Sameh Mansour, 58, deteriorated during his admission to the intensive care unit at the Badr prison hospital, northeast of the capital Cairo, ENHR said in another statement.  

Detained since 2021, Mansour used to work as a mathematics teacher in northeastern Port Said city.

ENHR documented that the former teacher's health had deteriorated dramatically throughout the past few months allegedly due to the inhumane detention conditions he went through, the statement read.

According to the rights group, the prison administration allegedly did not provide him with the proper healthcare on time as he was suffering from "kidney atrophy."

Mansour was in and out of prison and detention since 2013 over several cases and was also subjected to enforced disappearance in the process.

In September 2021, he was detained without trial over terrorism-related charges before he finally died at the prison hospital.

"The group holds the prosecutor-general legally responsible for the safety and security of all detainees and prisoners, calling for an end to the extreme state of negligence they are subjected to in terms of being [allegedly] banned from receiving appropriate medical care on time," the statement concluded.

Egypt's human rights record is regularly condemned by human rights groups estimating that there are about 60,000 political prisoners in the country, many facing abuse, torture and medical neglect.