Amnesty calls for Mohamed Soltan’s release from prison due to lack of care

Amnesty International called on Egyptian authorities to release hunger-striking political prisoner Mohamed Soltan due to “imminent risk of organ failure,” and lack of medical attention, in a press release Friday.

Soltan, who has been on hunger strike for 238 days, is still awaiting trial in what is widely known as the “Rabea control room” case. He, along with 50 others, including Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, are accused of running an operation room planning attacks on churches, private and public property and police stations following the Rabea al-Adaweya sit-in dispersal last August.

He has been placed in solitary confinement at Al-Aqrab maximum security prison, and according to Amnesty is only being transferred to the prison’s medical unit when he loses consciousness, after which he is taken back to his cell.

Eyewitnesses who saw Soltan before his confinement said he was sitting in a wheelchair and was unable to hold a conversation for more than a couple of minutes.

“Denying medical care to someone who is critically ill is not just callous and cruel, but blatantly unlawful,” said Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa programme, Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, in the press release.

“The authorities have an obligation to ensure that all detainees in their custody are granted access to adequate medical care,” she added.

Traditionally, one of the reasons political prisoners hunger strike is a last resort at opening up lines of communication with the state, because of its responsibility to protect those under its care.

On Tuesday, Soltan’s family filed a request with the general prosecutor for release due to his rapidly deteriorating health. His sister Sarah Mohamed told Mada Masr the family had been unable to visit him because he physically couldn't move.

Soltan was arrested in August 2013 following the Rabea dispersal. Security forces raided his home looking for his father, prominent Muslim Brotherhood figure Salah Soltan, and when they didn't find him, they arrested Mohamed and three of his friends.

“Mohamed Soltan should not have been in jail in the first place … now the authorities are toying with his life in this manner,” Sahraoui said.

Amnesty calls on Egyptian authorities to abide by international obligations towards prisoners, and to release those detained solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression.

Security forces recently tried to force another prisoner, Ibrahim al-Yamany, to end his hunger strike of 156 days by tying his arms and legs to the bars of his cell and placing him in solitary confinement in Wadi Natrun prison, Amnesty claims. He was detained while reportedly working in a field hospital during the Ramsis protests of August 2013.

The Freedom for the Brave campaign support and advocacy group for prisoners says at least 57 detainees are on hunger strike in Abu Zabaal prison and at least 15 more in Tora prison.

Outside of prison, at least 54 activists, journalists and human rights defenders are on hunger strike in solidarity with those in detention.