Egyptian prisoner awarded Ph.D at Borg El-Arab prison

CAIRO –11 November 2017: Egyptian prisoner Mohamed al-Shenawy was awarded a master’s degree and a doctorate in criminal law at Borg El-Arab prison after 13 years of imprisonment.The Ministry of Interior provided all the resources and support for Shenawy to obtain his master’s and doctorate in criminal law during his stay in prison, the prisoner said.


the prisoner during his interview - File Photo

Egypt Today went to attend the defense of his doctoral theses inside the prison, which rated as “very good”, and he pointed out the details of his story.“Since my childhood, I admire reading, which is everything in my life; even after my imprisonment, the book was my friend,” said Shenawy.


the prisoner during his way to the defense of doctoral theses inside - File Photo

Shenawy pointed out that he would spend several hours every day in the library of the prison to research and prepare his thesis, adding that the prison service provided all the needed resources to finish his Ph.D.He added that his friends implicated him in forging certificates, but he does not know how this happened. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison and spent 13 of them so far, and he awaits a pardon to go to his family.


During the announcement of the result in the prison - File Photo

“I thank my wife, who stands and supports me all the time, and my dream to get out and live in peace and security with my son and daughter,” said Shenawy.The prison service decided to bear all expenses of the defense of his doctoral thesis, and it coordinated with the Faculty of Law in Alexandria to support the researcher by supplying all the resources from the prison library, as well as from outside, said Mustafa Shehata, assistant minister of interior for prison services.


Mohamed al-Shenawy inside the prison library - File Photo

This came within the interior minister’s directives to respect the values of human rights inside the prisons as a part of the ministry’s role to teach and qualify prisoners and achieve welfare, added Shehata.