Asmaa Aly, the wife of prominent detained rights lawyer Malek Adly, denounced once more the conditions of her husband’s imprisonment, stating that he has spent 65 consecutive days in solitary confinement.
“His health has deteriorated. The cell is 2×3 metres and bare except for two blankets,” Aly posted to Facebook Saturday, describing the confinement as a “grave” that is empty and not ventilated.
“Adly is exhausted, suffers from back pain, and sore joints in his leg. It is getting worse by the day as a result of sleeping on the floor and due to the extremely hot weather and the unbearable humidity. All our attempts to improve his detention conditions have failed,” Aly claimed.
Adly’s lawyers had previously filed a lawsuit before the administrative court, demanding that prison regulations be applied on Adly by allowing him access to his basic rights as a prisoner. On Sunday, Aly expressed her frustration that the court had scheduled 5 September as the date to look into this lawsuit.
“This is an urgent matter to save the endangered life of a human being; how come they won’t examine it for another two months? I have nowhere to go. I hold the entire judicial system and the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) responsible for Adly’s safety,” she said.
The Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR,) for which Adly worked, filed a complaint to the chief of Tora prison against his detention in solitary confinement since 6 May.
Solitary confinement has been widely criticised by human rights’ defenders for the physical and psychological damage it has on prisoners. Aly has been able to visit her husband, along with her young daughter.
She reported him saying that despite the “unknown person” behind his injustice, and his physical fatigue, his “soul and mind are well,” and that he will continue to demand his right and dream of a “free and just nation”.
Adly faces charges of spreading “false news” about the controversial maritime demarcation of the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir, despite a recent court decision supporting his claims that the islands fall under Egyptian sovereignty, and not Saudi Arabian as the Egyptian government claimed.
He is also accused of inciting people to protest and aiming to overthrow the regime, charges that have been regularly brought against political and human rights activists, as well as journalists.
