The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) holds Public Prosecutor Mohamed Shawky and Minister of Interior Mahmoud Tawfik fully responsible for the health and safety of human rights lawyer Ibrahim Metwally, who is currently detained at “Badr 3” prison. Metwally, who’s been held in pretrial detention for more than seven years, in a law violation, turned 61 last week. He has been seeking information about the fate of his forcibly disappeared son for the past 11 years, 7 of those years he spent in arbitrary detention for his legal and peaceful activism to end forced disappearance in Egypt.

Metwally now suffers from an enlarged prostate, while the Badr 3 prison administration refuses to allow him to get examined by a specialist to determine his qualification to a critically needed surgery.

Metwally's lawyer has previously submitted several requests for a medical examination for several diseases his client has, but he’s yet to receive any response. Metwally's health deteriorated and he developed a severely enlarged prostate, which required urgent surgery. 

Last week, Metwally's lawyer submitted another request to the Public Prosecution asking to present him to a specialist doctor and perform the necessary surgery, expressing Metwally’s readiness to pay for the needed treatment and procedures. The lawyer has yet to received a response.

Metwally's health complications began during his detention at the maximum security Tora Prison 2, where he spent five years, including a full year of solitary confinement and a ban on visits. His health deteriorated further when he was transferred to Badr 3 Prison. Since his arrest, Metwally has been denied medications, physical exercise, and exposure to enough sunlight, which contributes to a significant deterioration in his health.

Metwally’s detention renewal hearing was set to be held on December 9th, in connection with Case No. 786 of 2020, in which he has been detained for more than four years, in violation of the law that sets a two-year limit for pretrial detention.

EIPR lawyer learned that the Second Terrorism Circuit, headed by Judge Wagdy Abdel Moneim, renewed the detention of all detainees in Badr 3 Prison "on paper", without their presence, as the court failed to contact the prison via video conference.

Metwally was arrested on September 10th 2017 at Cairo airport while heading to Geneva, upon an invitation to participate in the 113th session of the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances.

Over the past two months, Metwally was referred to trial in connection with two cases on similar charges. According to Article 96 of the Egyptian constitution, Metwally is innocent until proven guilty, but his detention continues without legal justification. According to the same article, he is supposed to stand a "fair legal trial, in which he shall have guarantees to defend himself". However, neither Metwally nor his defence team has been able to access any of the papers of the two cases, which have been open for years.

EIPR reiterates its call on the Public Prosecutor to rectify Metwally's legal status, release him, and investigate all the violations he has been subjected to during the past seven years, including depriving him of necessary healthcare and keeping him in prolonged detention in violation of the law. EIPR reminds the Ministry of Interior and the Community Protection Sector (formerly the Prisons Authority), specifically the Badr 3 Prison administration, of the Prisons Organization Law, which stipulates that sick detainees shall be treated at government and university medical facilities, if need be. The same law urges prison administrations to consider the release of convicts when they develop a life-threatening disease, which is supposed to be applied to Metwally who has not been convicted or even faced with any evidence.