
Interior Ministry headquarters (Reuters)
A security source has denied reports claiming that four prisoners had died in Egyptian prisons after contracting the coronavirus, accusing a non-Egyptian TV channel of implausibility.
The security source blamed the TV channel, which he refused to name, for using information from the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group in Egypt.
A number of media outlets cited a report by the American NGO Human Rights Watch in September that claimed the death of four Egyptian inmates in three days, but failed to provide solid evidence.
In January, the Egyptian Ministry of Interior said authorities have developed prison hospitals in light of the ministry’s adherence to all human rights standards.
The ministry published a video of a delegation of civil society organisations, human rights groups, and international media last month during a visit to the hospital of the Tora prison in Cairo.
The ministry said the hospital is equipped with the latest medical equipment and skilled human cadres.
The country has taken strict measures to curb the spread of the pandemic since the outbreak in Egypt in mid-February.
The measures included suspending prison visits for months, before it was resumed in August, in a bid to prevent the pandemic from spending in prisons.
Authorities, however, have not responded to calls to release some prisoners due to the coronavirus outbreak nationwide.
The interior ministry has published photos of medical teams sterilising prisons.
In addition, many prisoners were granted presidential pardons and conditional release over the past few years.
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