Update: Detainees go on hunger strike to protest assaults in prison

Several jailed activists in Wadi al-Natroun Prison have gone on hunger strike to protest mistreatment, the Freedom for the Brave campaign reported late Wednesday.

An alleged assault by prison authorities two days ago was the catalyst for the strike, but the detainees are also protesting their long pretrial detention periods, which have exceeded two years.

Freedom for the Brave reported that tensions began when an informer beat one of the detainees and sent him to solitary confinement two days ago.

When his fellow inmates objected, prison authorities assaulted and injured four of the detainees and took them to an unknown location. Others then reportedly began chanting and hitting the walls in protest.

The escalating tension led prison authorities to bring in outside security forces to prevent further unrest. This reportedly caused more anger among the detainees, and the prison authorities were pressured into returning the four assaulted inmates back to their prison cells.

The campaign added that the situation in the prison "remains unstable."

Freedom for the Brave also reported on the alleged mistreatment of three other activists, two of whom were referred to military trial on Wednesday. The third person's detention was extended by 15 days, despite health concerns. 

All three activists were arrested outside a restaurant in southeast Cairo on June 1.

Freedom for the Brave claimed that prosecutors accused the three activists of belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. They were charged with affiliation to a terrorist group, and publishing false and misleading information with the aim of destabilizing the country and threatening national security.

Prosecutors extended the pretrial detention of youth activist Esraa al-Taweel for another 15 days, the sixth time that her detention has been extended despite concerns for her physical well-being.

Taweel's defense lawyer told the privately owned Al-Shorouk newspaper that Taweel suffers from paralysis in her limbs, and "that if neglected, her health condition will further deteriorate."

Taweel is partially unable to walk due to injuries sustained when she was shot in Mostafa Mahmoud Square in Cairo on the third anniversary of the January 25 revolution.

According to her defense lawyer, Taweel has repeatedly denied that she is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood or involved in disseminating false information.

She was first reported missing on June 1,  and her friends and family were not made aware of her whereabouts until she was spotted at Qanater Women's Prison on June 16.

The two other activists, Sohaib Saad and Omar Mohamed, were referred to military trial. Their defense lawyers stated the first session of their trial was set for September 6.

In a video called “Arrest of largest terrorist cell threatening national security” that was posted by the Defense Ministry on July 10, Saad and Mohamed were accused of being terrorists, illegally possessing weapons and threatening the lives of Egyptian security forces. The video included taped confessions of Saad claiming that he was involved in transporting weaponry.

Human rights groups claim that these confessions were likely coerced and inadmissible as evidence, as they were obtained under duress.

The Muslim Brotherhood's website, Freedom and Justice Gate, reported on Wednesday that "these confessions were extracted through torture" and illegally frame the activists for crimes they did not commit. Their statement warned that the military tribunal could issue sentences as harsh as life imprisonment or the death penalty.