Inhumane detention conditions have long plagued Egypt’s prisons, adversely affecting prisoners’ enjoyment of their right to health. Prisoners’ health and lives are further endangered by the failure of prison authorities – either through neglect or deliberate denial – to provide individuals in their custody with adequate health care, in breach of their obligations under international law. Amnesty International’s research shows how the authorities’ denial of adequate health care has caused undue pain and suffering of prisoners and their distressed relatives, and in some cases might have led or contributed to preventable deaths in custody and irreparable harm to prisoners’ health.
