The Doctors Syndicate and the state-funded National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) separately submitted requests to the Ministry of Interior for permission to visit detained lawyer Malek Adly.
This comes as Adly’s wife has filed complaints stating that his health has been deteriorating. According to a statement by the syndicate on Tuesday, Adly is suffering from pains in his back and high blood pressure, yet he is prevented from access to medication in jail.
Adly, a prominent rights lawyer at the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) continues to suffer tough detention conditions in Tora prison as he has remained in solitary confinement for nearly two months.
Adly’s wife Asmaa Aly visited him Wednesday in jail. She said that he continues to be deprived of most things, and he is barely allowed to step outside of his cell except for a few minutes in a “tiny corridor”.
“I told him that he won one of the cases he was working on. The court had issued prison sentences Tuesday against policemen for torturing citizen Talaat Shabeb. It made him feel a little better,” Aly told Daily News Egypt after the visit.
Yet, she said she finds no reason for such treatment of Adly, and doubts the ministry will allow syndicate and NCHR members to visit him. “His lawyers, who normally have the right to visit him, are requested to obtain prior permits from the prosecution, which are being denied,” Aly said.
Adly was arrested last May amid a prolonged security campaign against political and rights activists based on their opinions on the widely controversial ‘Red Sea islands’ agreement. He is facing charges of inciting anti-state protests against the backdrop of protests which took place in April rejecting the border demarcation agreement.
