Save the Detainees in Badr 3 Prison!

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

Alarming reports continue to emerge about the deteriorating conditions in Badr 3 Prison—one of the worst prisons run by the Egyptian regime in terms of violations, isolation, and psychological and physical torture. Recent warnings have intensified about an imminent humanitarian disaster threatening the lives of dozens of detainees who have declared a hunger strike in protest against degrading treatment, denial of visitation and medical care, and ongoing abuse by security forces.

Lawyers and human rights advocates confirm that no fewer than 20 detainees have entered into an open-ended hunger strike since mid-June, including prominent figures from the Islamic movement such as Mohamed El-Beltagy, Gehad El-Haddad, Osama Mohamed Morsi, Asaad El-Sheikha, Sobhi Saleh, and former minister Khaled El-Azhari. Several detainees have attempted suicide due to the deterioration of their health and a loss of hope that their demands will be addressed, amid the prison authorities’ persistent refusal to acknowledge their pleas or allow any external medical or monitoring intervention.

We express our complete solidarity with all political detainees in Badr 3 Prison, regardless of their ideological or political affiliations. We specifically highlight the detainees from the Islamic current, who have for years endured the harshest forms of repression and isolation and continue to be deprived of their most basic human rights, foremost among them the right to a dignified life, access to healthcare, and communication with their families.

Badr 3 Prison has witnessed repeated waves of hunger strikes over the past few years, especially since the transfer of detainees from “Scorpion Prison” in 2022. No fewer than 15 suicide attempts have been recorded within a single year, along with increasing cases of fainting, hypoglycemia, heart complications, and psychological deterioration. This prison is a structural extension of the punitive prison system developed by the Sisi regime since the coup, intended to spread fear and to physically and psychologically eliminate political opponents.

We do not differentiate in our solidarity between leftists, liberals, or Islamists, as human rights are indivisible and freedom can only be attained through the unified struggle of all the oppressed. We must raise our voices in support of the freedom of all detainees and to expose the ongoing abuses in Badr 3 and all other prisons and detention centers in Egypt.

We demand the immediate release of all political detainees, the opening of prisons to independent fact-finding committees, an end to torture and isolation, and the full guarantee of detainees’ rights to medical care, visitation, and communication with their families.
Freedom for all detainees