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EOHR calls for investigation into the hunger strike launched by 'Gods' Soldiers' defendants
27/6/2005
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) is extremely concerned about the continuing hunger strike being carried out by 18 men, defendants in the Gods' Soldiers Cell case , in Tora Reception Prison. The hunger strike, which began on Friday 24th June 2005, was provoked by five of them being placed in isolation, terrorised by police dogs in front of the cells, denied visits and denied the right to pursue their education.
EOHR received complaints from the group's families on 26th June 2005 stating that the Tora Reception Prison's administration stormed into the wing in which the detainees are being held, put police dogs in front of their cells in order to terrify them and isolated five of them; Ihab Ismail, Mohamed Darrag, Tareq Abu al Azm, Mohamed Bassiouny and Ezzat el Naggar. This led them to launch an open-ended hunger strike - even if it proves fatal, according to one of the detainees' relatives.
EOHR is extremely concerned about the detainees' state of health as a result of the hunger strike and calls on the Interior Minister to launch an internal inquiry into the conditions inside Tora Reception Prison, seek to eradicate the sources of the detainees' grievances and protect their lives. It also calls on the Attorney General to exercise the powers granted to him under article 42 of the Criminal Procedures Code which allow him to conduct prison inspections and examine conditions inside them. It also requests that he send members of the public prosecution office to Abu Zabal Penitentiary to investigate the hunger strike and its causes.
The 'God's Soldiers' case began in October 2002 when 42 men were arrested on charges of belonging to an illegally formed group, the Gehad group. They were transferred to the military prosecution office in 2003.
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