A letter from detained journalist, Abdel Rahman Yakout, in Wadi Al-Nuturn prison was published on Monday.
Yakout wrote the letter during the week of the fifth anniversary of the 25 January Revolution, aiming to provide an account of the experiences of prisoners.
Yakout began the letter referring to “humanity”, and questioning if people outside of prison “still remember this concept”.
He further noted that prisoners have not only lost their freedom, but their dreams as well, explaining that these dreams are now limited to witnessing small improvements of their conditions in prison.
“The prisoner dreams of his sleeping place expanding by a few centimeters, or transferring to another cell with two bathrooms to account for overcrowding,” he said.
“Each prisoner waits until night to start arranging his thoughts and plan out his future but after being kept so long in dark prisons he becomes afraid to think so as to avoid psychological problems; if this happens he will not find treatment inside the prison hospitals,” he continued.
Yakout was arrested in March 2015 on several charges, included belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, violating rights and freedoms, attempting to overthrow the regime, and protesting without permission.
He was also accused of possessing weapons, despite legal documents revealing that he was only carrying a black plastic bag, a camera and a mobile phone.
Two weeks ago, during the week of the anniversary, political activists including Mahienour El-Massry and Alaa Abdel Fattah sent letters from prison to share their opinions over the events of the past five years.
