Egypt: Calls for release of 145 jailed women and 89 children ahead of national dialogue

The Belady human rights organization in Egypt has called for the release of 145 women and 89 children held in prisons and official detention centers in connection with political cases

In light of the reactivation of the Presidential Pardon Committee in April, Egyptian rights group Belady has called for releasing 145 women and 89 children imprisoned on political grounds, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

The Belady rights group also urged the authorities to release female political prisoners and minors, considering the ongoing dialogue aiming to reach a solution to the country’s deadlock.

The rights group shared that the number of political prisoners has increased by 60,000 in five months since the presidency organized Ramadan’s Family Iftar in April.

According to Belady, 138 women and 41 children (boys and girls) are in remand detention, and seven women and 48 children are being sentenced on political grounds.

Egyptian rights groups have confirmed that the total number of political prisoners had reached around 114,000. This is two times the capacity of Egyptian prisons estimated by President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in December 2020.

The Arab Network for Human Rights Information estimated the number of prisoners, remand prisoners and detainees in Egypt until early March 2021 at about 120,000 prisoners, including about 65,000 political prisoners and about 54,000 prisoners and criminal detainees

The number of sentenced prisoners reached about 82,000 prisoners, with the total number of detainees in pretrial detention reaching about 37,000.

The organization set an example in Case No. 1530 of 2019 Supreme State Security, known in the media as the “Joker” case, which includes approximately 48 children, against the backdrop of a video released in late 2019 by only four children.

The order to refer the case to trial included a number of 28 children.

The organization also shed light on two phenomena: First, the “increasing enforced disappearances against women and children, as their numbers reached 17 women and children that have not yet appeared.

On top of them is the 16-year-old Sinai child, Abdullah Bu Mediene, whose journey began with illegal detention since he was only 12 years old.”