1/5/19

Sisi denies holding 60,000 political prisoners, former prisoners respond



As a response to Abdel Fattah Al Sisi’s blatant lies on a promo from CBS’s 60 Minutes show which will air tomorrow Sunday where he said: We don’t have any political prisoners in Egypt, some Egyptian former political prisoners and families of current political prisoners have responded with stories of their suffering and the injustice caused by political imprisonment in Egypt. Here we will share some of these comments they left on the CBS’s video story as well as on the hashtag #iamapoliticalprisoner #CBS:

 All these accounts were posted as comments on CBS’s Facebook page and they maybe lost in the future that’s why we wanted to keep them here for the record. The words and experiences of those prisoners and their families should get as much attention as this liar dictator is getting. We need to help spread them at least.






أنا سارة مهني صحفية.. اعتقلت يوم ٢٠١٧/٠٦/٢٩ بسبب كوني صاحبة رأي معارض لسياسات النظام الحاكم.. ظللت رهينة الاعتقال لمدة ٧٦ يوم و استأنفت على استمرار حبسي و تم اخلاء سبيلي و بعد ذلك حكم عليّ بعامين من محكمة امن الدولة طوارئ حكم بات لا يقبل النقض و لا يسقط بالتقادم.
1- My name is sara mohani, I'm an Egyptian journalist, I had been arrested on 2017/6/29 because I have a dissenting opinion to the policies of the ruling regime. I remained in detention for 76 days and I appealed the detention decision and released temporary and later I have been sentenced for 2 years by the state security court, which is not subject to veto or prescription.
2- Hesham Nasser" was detained 5 years ago when he was only 17 years old! They deprived him of completing his education. He has been tortured until he suffered Epilepsy and periodic paralysis. At the end, he was sentenced to 7 years in jail.

3- I’m Hoda Abdelmonem, 60 years old, a human rights defender and a former member of the National Council for Human Rights. I’m a mother and a grandmother. I was pulled off of my house at dawn two moths ago and taken to an unknown place. I couldn’t see my lawyer or my family for a long time. My place of detention is still unknown. I provide legal assistance to the victims in Egypt and now I’m with these victims inside. There’s 70 women politically detained in Egypt. I demand the release of all political detainees.

4- I’m Eid Dahroug, 70 years old. I was detained on 14/5/2014 along with my son Dr. Abdul-Rahman who was sent to Burj Al-Arab Prison where he spent two years of detention and suffered from all sorts of torture. As for me, I was put in a cell in Scorpion Prison since nearly 5 years and I’ve been deprived of my family visits for 9 months until now. Moreover, I suffer from medical negligence not to mention that I am 70 years old and I suffer from renal failure—that needs an urgent “nephrectomy of kidney” surgery—chronic eye fly, left hand paralysis, herniated disk in the neck vertebrae, and diaphragmatic rupture. Nevertheless, I’ve been deprived of medication and doctor visits. However, Sissi hadn’t been satisfied with that yet, so my second son, 17, was detained two months after my detention and then was sent to Wady Al-Natroun Prison where he is still confined for more than 4 years and a half during which he faced all sorts of torture and couldn’t complete his education until now.

5- I'm Ahmed Zakaria 23 years old I have been detained for 5 years since 15/8/2013 till 16/8/2018 i was 18 y.o when i detained .. I lost my dream to be a doctor cuz i cannot complete my education like i wanted and uptill now I still want to achieve my goal to be a doctor 😕😕

6- Attia: From the wife of a friend of mine who got arrested and in enforced disappearance: “This is the eleventh day of the enforced disappearance of my husband, "Mohammed Ezzeldin Malek" after his arrest while traveling Sunday December 23, 2018, from Cairo airport, Egypt. Three years ago he tried to travel with his family to USA, but he was prevented from travel at the airport. We were informed then that the reason for the ban is solely that he is the brother of "Hassan Malek." There were no charges against him but he was just prevented from travel. I was forced to take the children to USA out of fear of further persecution to the family, so my husband was separated from his wife and children for the past 3 years. Our daughter was severely ill and one of his friends told him that the illegal travel ban on travel was removed so he tried to book a flight and travel to USA to be reunited with his family.

My husband had completed his travel procedures legally at the airport and his papers and passport were all official and legal. Without any lawful reason the commercial aircraft was brought back after take-off, and shortly before arriving to its destination. My husband was taken off the plane without any legal charges. My husband has disappeared since that time and we are terrified that he is being subjected to torture or that he may be assassinated. 

We were dreaming as a family that we could have a safe and quiet life. We would be together to deal with the medical hardships that our daughter has. Instead, I have to keep hiding the bad news from my children while waiting for the unknown. I have to deal with the pain, anxiety, and inability to do anything to help my husband. I don't know for how long I will have to make up excuses to answer the constant question from my children "Why doesn’t my father call" O God, Please save my husband...”

7- Sayed Abdelgawad: The son of my friend , 14 years old is hold in Sisi' prison since 2013.

8- I have my brother now political prisoner his name is Mohamed abdelsalm aboserya.

9- Khadeja Ahmed: I am an Egyptian woman, I was arrested by Egyption forces from my home and still in the prison for 6 months. I am evidance for many children under age 18 were arrested and stay untill now in Sisi's prisons #I_am_a_political_prisoner

10- #Mohamed_Ali_Bishr 68 years old , arrested from 4 years without any crime at scorpion jail .. I couldn’t see my lawyer or my family since #march 2018.

11- My name is Zeinab Hassan. I was arrested on 4/11/2013 and suffered from numerous verbal, physical and psychological abuses. Furthermore, I was faced with many fabricated accusations that no girl can ever commit, like: bearing a machine gun, assaulting security forces, public security threat, and spreading terror among citizens. All of that was because I oppose the regime’s policies. This, I was detained for 45 days, made an appeal while in jail then I was released. After that I was sentenced to 2 years in jail and now I’ve fled Egypt.

12- I’m Sohaib Emad, 20 years old. I’ve been arrested when I was 15 among my mum and family. I’ve faced fabricated accuses that never suit my age, like setting fire in police cars and targeting cops! I was sentenced to 3 years in jail, all of which I spent in the brutal inhumane prison. 1 year later after I’ve been released, however, I was detained again for 1 week. My friends are still suffering in jail. I demand the release of all political prisoners in Egypt.

13- I’m Abdul-Rahman Atef, an Egyptian attorney who has been detained many times in several governorates for lawsuits that have nothing to do with me. Recently, some sentences was pronounced against me, and I was accused of other new political cases. The only reason for all of this nonsense is that I’m a human rights advocate in Egypt.
The following is a translated blog post from 2 years ago written by a political prisoner after being released from prison.