Ministry of Interior spokesman Hany Abdel Latif confirmed the death of Ain Shams University student Mohamed Ramadan, who was detained at Hadayek Al-Kobba police station on Sunday.
Abdel Latif claimed that Ramadan died of respiratory distress. The death occurred as he was being transferred to Al-Zaitoun hospital. He alleged that Ramadan was arrested 12 days ago for being involved in leaving explosive devices in front of Ain Shams University gate.
The Muslim Brotherhood released a statement saying that “Ramadan was tortured to death by coup forces in a police station”.
Abdel Latif said that prosecution is still investigating the allegations of torture and will release a statement with the results from the Forensic Authority as soon as the investigations are over.
Earlier this month, Egypt faced criticism at the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review, where delegates recommended that the government should take measures to prevent the torture and ill treatment of prisoners. The assistant minister of interior present at the UN UPR noted that “Egypt criminalises torture” and that the ministry has “adopted a new list of standards to be enforced in prisons”.
Prior the UN UPR, rights groups handed the Egyptian government several recommendations that focused on torture and the degrading treatment of prisoners, stressing the importance of conducting fair investigations into allegations of torture by the police.
