Assistant Interior Minister for Human Rights Abdel Karim Abu Bakr expressed doubts about the credibility of the pictures published by the British newspaper the Telegraph about Egyptian prisons being in terrible conditions.
He told Al-Hadath satellite channel on Tuesday that some of the pictures showed ropes inside the cells. “Ropes are forbidden because they could be used for escaping,” he said. “So is the pincer that appeared in the pictures.”
“Prisoners can make ropes from anything,” said Hossam Meneai, the filmmaker who was taken into custody from his home by security services in late January with American translator Jeremy Hodge. After a few days, the two were charged with “spreading false news” as Meneai had videos downloaded from YouTube of the Rabaa al-Adaweya dispersal.
Egypt Independent spoke to Meneai, who compared the video on the Telegraph website to his experience at the Dokki police station, where he was held for the majority of his 19 days in custody. Meneai was held incomunicado and frequently beaten for nine days. During the first week, he was not allowed any visits to the jail, not even from his lawyer, and the Dokki police officers did not allow in any of the food that was brought to him.
“In the police station, the prisoners were making ropes out of blankets, plastic bags, anything they could find. Sometimes they used it to hang clothes, other times they use it to take food or drugs from one cell to another,” he said.
Nonetheless, Abu Bakr assures that the conditions in prisons are better than in the video. “Prisons were improved 15 years ago,” he said, adding that the ministry will be publishing “real” pictures and videos of prisons soon.
“Prison hospitals are very well equipped,” he added.
Meneai, however, says he saw much worse conditions in the Dokki police station, which is meant to hold people who are still awaiting trial. “This is clean compared to the police station,” said Meneai, as he watched the video of the prison cell. “You cannot even see cockroaches. Our bathroom was so full of cockroaches, you couldn't even see the color of the wall. I'm talking about thousands of them.”
The air of his small cell, he said, was so humid and suffocating as he shared it with from 25 to 30 men and the cell only had two small windows, which did not let air in as the fans were broken. Meneai says he left the station suffering from respiratory problems.
