By Toqa Ezzidin
In a post on the “Free Mahienour” Facebook created by Maysoon El-Massry, sister of the detained political activist Mahienour El-Massry, Maysoon described the inhumane environment in the prison when she visited on Saturday.
Maysoon said the situation has been “atrocious” for three weeks because they cannot provide the prisoners with basic needs since there is no place for storage.
According to Maysoon, prisoners have to buy their needs and drinks from the canteen, which is very expensive and some prisoners cannot afford to buy them.
She added that thread is not allowed for prisoners who are not registered for work, and all “political prisoners” are not registered as workers.
Maysoon said there is an obvious increase in the number of prisoners inside one cell, due to the arrival of more prisoners from Al-Mansoura prison because of maintenance work there.
There are 27 other inmates in Mahienour’s cell and some others have 30 in a cell. “This literally means that women sleep on top of each other,” Maysoon said.
Water is only available for four hours a day, which has been the case for over a week. “Some 27 women shower, wash their clothes and their plates, cook, and store water to be used throughout the day in only four hours,” she wrote on the page. “The lack of water clearly affected the cleanliness of the rooms and the bathroom inside the cell. It became unhygienic.”
Maysoon said her sister complained to the mayor, who said that water problem will be resolved within 10-15 days.
“Dear members who always complain that prisons cover up the truth about what is happening, we are complaining, I hope you are not silent about this,” Maysoon wrote to the National Council for Human Rights.
Mahienour El-Massry was sentenced to one year and three months in prison earlier this year over charges of breaking into Al-Raml Police station, demonstrating violence, and assaulting policemen in Alexandria 2013 during the era of the ousted president Mohammed Morsi.
She won the 2014 Ludovic Trarieux award, which is given annually to a lawyer who contributes to the defence of human rights.
