Video: Foreign media reporters meet Cairo prison inmates, feedback positive

CAIRO – 23 February 2020: A number of correspondents from foreign media platforms, including the Associated Press (AP) visited Egypt's El-Marg General Prison, in the northeast of the capital, Cairo, to check human rights situation and speak with the inmates, the Interior Ministry said in on Sunday.

Correspondents from AP news agency and Saudi Arabia’s Al-Arabiya TV, as well as officials from Egyptian human rights organizations visited the literacy classes for adults, the library, Islamic and Christian religious classes, the kitchen, carpentry workshops and decorative products exhibition, the ministry said in a statement.

They also checked the hospital, cafes, sports pitches and spoke with inmates about their life conditions inside the prison.

The ministry published a professionally-recorded video for the visit. All inmates in the video gave positive feedback about their life inside the prison and collectively affirmed they receive their full rights.



Ismail Rady of the Cairo-based Arab Organization for Human Rights referred to rumors about bad treatment and human rights abuses against inmates, saying that he knows after the visist that such news was “exaggerated.”


A number of correspondents from foreign media platforms visit Egypt's El-Marg General Prison, in the northeast of the capital, Cairo, to speak with the inmates – Screenshots/Interior Ministry







Earlier in February, the Interior Ministry also published a video for correspondents from foreign media platforms visiting the Tora prison complex south of Cairo, known for housing many inmates over terrorism-related charges.

Correspondents from the Saudi news channel Al-Arabiya, the British Sky News, French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) visited the prisons of Liman Tora and Anbar Al-Zera’ah inside the well-known complex.

Mahmoud Hussein, an Egyptian correspondent of Qatari state-funded Al-Jazeera who has been detained in Egypt since December 2016 over charges related to national security, appeared in the video.

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Foreign media reporters visit Egypt’s Tora prisons, talk to inmates

CAIRO – 12 February 2020: Correspondents from foreign media platforms visited the Tora prison complex south of Cairo, known for housing many inmates over terrorism-related charges.

Egypt's State Information Service, a government agency that is directly subordinate to the Egyptian Presidency, has frequently denied reports concerning human rights violations in Egypt, especially those issued by human rights organizations believed to be politicized.

Concerning ex-prisoners, the Egyptian Parliament Human Rights Committee last June announced holding a set of meetings during the coming period to discuss social hardships and stigma of these persons.

The political leadership has also affirmed keenness to respect human rights in Egypt, saying, in a meeting with the African Commission on Human and peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) delegation in Cairo in April, that promoting human rights is one of Egypt’s priorities in its 2030 Vision.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also emphasized the state’s role in promoting religious tolerance, acceptance and coexistence, as well as entrenching the concept of citizenship.

As Egypt hosts millions of expats and refugees, Sisi said they practice all their rights and activities freely according to UN conventions.