Systematic Violations at "Badr Rehabilitation and Correction Center"

Joint Statement
Systematic Violations at "Badr Rehabilitation and Correction Center"
We demand an urgent investigation and fact-finding committee.

Human rights organizations signing this statement express their grave concern about the severe violations committed by the Egyptian authorities inside the "Badr Rehabilitation and Correction Center" also known as the "Badr Prisons Complex 1, 2, 3". These actions constitute a flagrant violation of the Egyptian constitution, laws, international treaties, and conventions, as well as a clear violation of the minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners established by the United Nations. These violations include:

Depriving detainees of visits for up to seven years.
Depriving detainees of "Sports" and exposing them to the sun's rays.
Starving detainees by providing very small amounts of food, preventing visits from families, and closing the prison cafeteria.
Exposing detainees to bright light 24 hours a day, which, according to psychological experts, can damage the nervous system, cause depression, and lead to suicide.
Violating privacy through surveillance cameras (audio and visual) inside the cells.
Frequent searches accompanied by brutal beatings of detainees.
Deliberate medical neglect and deprivation of the right to treatment.
Unjustified prolonged solitary confinement.
Deprivation of personal hygiene items.
Harsh, humiliating treatment that violates human dignity.
֍ Several organizations that have signed this statement confirm that:
"Badr Prison Complex" is the harshest and most oppressive version of the infamous Scorpion prison. These systematic and inhumane practices have led some detainees to take their own lives (suicide attempts have increased during the past week), and others to go on hunger strikes.
Since the beginning of the detention of political prisoners in Badr Prison Complex (less than a year ago), the number of deaths due to deliberate medical neglect has reached 5 cases.
The first death occurred on "November 1, 2022", when the detainee "Alaa Mohamed Al-Salami" died inside Badr 3 prison after 60 days of hunger strike, and the prison administration ignored his demands leading to his death.
These violations are classified as "physical and psychological torture" crimes under international human rights law, and torture is a crime against humanity (that does not fall under statute of limitations). Furthermore, it is being carried out in a systematic, comprehensive, and ongoing manner inside the prison.

֍Based on the above, the organizations that have signed this statement call on:
First, the Egyptian government:
An immediate cessation of these violations classified as torture crimes, and a commitment to the rule of law.
The speedy formation of an independent committee from "Egyptian and international" organizations to visit the prison.

Second, the Egyptian Prosecutor General:
The need to apply the law that gives him full responsibility for monitoring prisons.
Open an urgent, serious and transparent investigation into these violations and bring the perpetrators to a fair trial.
Third, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:
Urgently addressing the Egyptian authorities to stop these violations.
The formation of a fact-finding committee to assess the seriousness of the violations.
Fourth, international committees:
The Committee Against Torture to activate the provisions of the Convention against Torture, signed by Egypt.
The International Committee of the Red Cross to urgently visit Badr Prison Complex and assess the extent of the Egyptian authorities' compliance with minimum standards of treatment for prisoners.
The European Union's Committee on Human Rights to take necessary action to stop these violations.
Fifthly, international and local civil society organizations, especially human rights organizations:
We call upon to coordinate and collaborate their efforts and use all legal tools to stop these violations against all detainees in the Badr Prison Complex and all Egyptian prisons. This is in order to ensure that every individual is treated with dignity and respect, simply because they are human beings.

֍ Signatories:
- Arab Organization for Penal Reform
- Egyptian Network For Human Rights
- Andalus institute for tolerance and anti violence studies
- RREE VOIC
- JHR
- Arab Media Freedom Monitor
- Egyptian Coordination of Rights and Freedoms
- El Shehab For Human Rights
- Najda Human Rights
- The Arab Foundation for Support of Civil Society and Human Rights
- Tawasol Organization for Human Rights
- AFD International - Bruxelles
- Human Rights Monitor
- Egyptian Democratic Institute
- IARD
- AVTT
- Alkarama
- Jewar
- TheirRight - USA

#El_Shehab_for_Human_Rights