Scorpion Prison

The Al-Aqrab Prison (Arabic: سجن العقرب, lit. 'The Scorpion Prison'; official name Tora Prison 992 Maximum-Security) is a supermax prison in Helwan, Egypt, south of Cairo. It is used for political prisoners and opponents of the Egyptian government, who include Muslim Brotherhood and April 6 Youth Movement leaders, as well as political activists. Inmates allegedly suffer from ill-treatment and shortages of food.[1][2] The prison became known during the rule of Hosni Mubarak.[3]

Prison site

Scorpion Prison is located two kilometers from the gate of the official Tora Prison area, but its position as a high security prison, and like the last of the cluster in the famous Tora chain, made its location, even though it is at the back of the prisons, distinctive as it is surrounded by a wall of seven meters high. The gates are armored from the inside and the outside, and the officers' offices are completely behind iron bars and barriers.[4]

History

The idea of a series of high-security prisons was proposed by a group of officers upon their return from a training mission in the United States, and the Ministry of Interior considered it a creative and sufficient idea to fill what it considered a deficiency in its policy with armed groups in particular. In 1991, former Interior Minister Hassan al-Alfi and a group of his assistants-among them Major General Habib el-Adly, who was Assistant Minister for State Security Affairs at the time - began preparing these American ideas and placing them on the priority of immediate implementation.[4]

In the same year, Tora high-security prison (known thereafter - among the detainees - Scorpion Prison) began to be constructed and took two years to build, completing on May 30, 1993.[4]

Prison building

The prison consists of 320 cells that house approximately 2,000 inmates.[5] divided into 4 horizontal wards that take the shape of the letter H, each cell with a lamp of 100 watt power controlled by the fluctuations of the penal policy in the prison administration, so that the administration can cut off the water and lighting and close the windows as it deems appropriate. On the other hand, the engineering drawing allocated an area of 25 meters by 15 meters in the shape of the letter L for the purpose of "occasional" exercise. In addition, 20 cells are used as disciplinary wards for political prisoners in which lighting and conversation are prohibited. On June 26, 1993, Al-Adly attended as Assistant Minister, who made sure that the new prison was successful in terms of its ability to keep detainees and interrogate them in various ways.[4]

Each ward, in high security, is completely separated from the rest of the prison, once its armored outer gate is closed, so the detainees are not even able to communicate through cells, as prisoners do in regular prisons, as a result of the huge quantities of reinforced concrete that prevent sound from travelling.[4]

Speaking of al-Aqrab, Colonel Omar Afifi stated:

Al-Aqrab prison was designed so that the sunlight never enters any of its cells during the day. As a result, inmates develop diseases due to the lack of vitamin D, whose scarcity leads to weakness in the mind and in the body. The prison also suffers from lack of ventilation. During summer, temperatures within it rise to unbearable levels, while in winter it turns into a freezer.[6]

Notable inmates

• Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif (2004-present)
• † Mohamed Morsi (2013–2019), deposed President of Egypt,[7] who died in prison of a heart attack.[8]
• † Essam el-Erian (2013–2020), vice chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party, who died in prison of a heart attack.
• Essam El-Haddad (2013–present)[9]
• Husam Abu al-Bukhari (2013–present)
• Gehad El-Haddad (2014–present)[10][11][12]
• Mohamed Fahmy (2014–2015)[13]
• Khaled al-Qazzaz (2014–2015)[14]
• † Hamdi Hassan (2013–2021)[15]

References

1. "Egypt's Akrab prison tightens grip on inmates". Middle East Monitor. 2016-12-08. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
2. "The graveyard: An inside look into Alaqrab Prison: The beginnings of Alaqrab Prison". Archived from the original on 14 January 2016.
3. "StackPath". www.dailynewsegypt.com.
4. "The graveyard: An inside look into Scorpion Prison". Middle East Monitor. December 20, 2015.
5. "Egypt: Generation of young activists imprisoned in ruthless bid to crush dissent". www.amnesty.org. 30 June 2015.
6. "Al-Aqrab: the Egyptian prison with carcinogenic Asbestos and fatal diseases". Middle East Monitor. 2016-12-13. Retrieved 2016-08-08.
7. "Detention Review Panel". Detention Review Panel. Retrieved 2019-07-03.
8. "UN calls for 'prompt and thorough' probe into Morsi's death". www.aljazeera.com.
9. Elsayed Gamal Eldeen (2013-12-21). "Senior Morsi aides transferred to Cairo prison charges yet to be filed". Ahram English. Retrieved 2016-08-07.
10. "Jailed Brotherhood spokesman disciplined for New York Times article". Middle East Monitor. February 28, 2017.
11. "Egypt: End Gehad el-Haddad's solitary confinement and denial of medical care". Amnesty International Canada. May 28, 2018.
12. "Gehad transferred to Scorpion Prison". FreeHaddad.org. January 26, 2014.
13. "Journalist Mohamed Fahmy details 'grim' imprisonment in new memoir". CBC News. November 21, 2016.
14. "Stephen Harper, Khaled Al-Qazzaz needs your help". Toronto Star. July 15, 2014. Retrieved July 12, 2015.
15. "Former Egyptian MP Hamdi Hassan Dies inside the Scorpion Prison". Arab Organization for Human Rights. November 27, 2021. Retrieved November 29, 2021.

External links

• Al-Aqrab: the Egyptian prison with carcinogenic Asbestos and fatal diseases In: Middle East Monitor, 13. Dezember 2015
• The graveyard: An inside look into Alaqrab Prison. von Haitham Ghoneim. In: Middle East Monitor, 20. Dezember 2015
• Status of Al-Aqrab prison remains in dispute
• Egypt - Ministry denies worsening conditions in Al-Aqrab Prison