The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) filed a complaint calling on Public Prosecutor Mohamed Shawky to launch an urgent investigation into the death of seven detainees at the Omraniya police station within a year and suspension of the station’s officers until the end of the investigation and referring those responsible for this alarming number of deaths to trial.

EIPR filed the complaint, registered under No. 42850 of 2025, as the detainees’ legal representative. On June 14th, the complaint was sent to the Omraniya Prosecution to “take the necessary legal action.”

The seven, who were detained in connection with three separate criminal cases, died in custody at the Omraniya police station between March 2024 and May 2025, after spending varying periods of detention, amid worrying indications of complete absence of healthcare and any form of judicial control over places of detention. The ages of the deceased ranged from early twenties to mid-forties. Some of them suffered severe illnesses, which meant that they needed professional and urgent healthcare. It was not clear whether the rest of the deaths resulted from sudden health complications whose causes were unknown or complications that were known but were not treated medically on time. Some of the deceased remained in detention at the police station despite the issuance of final rulings that required them to be transferred to a public correctional and rehabilitation centre as per the law, thus raising suspicions of gross neglect or systematic violation of the detainees’ rights. Correctional and rehabilitation centres have better infrastructure to deal with health crises.

Five of the seven deceased were sentenced in one case in January 2023. One of them, 25, died after 17 months of detention as a result of pneumonia he caught in custody. He was taken to hospital for medical treatment after his condition deteriorated. Another detainee, 36, died after about 14 months of detention from internal bleeding. He was transferred to the hospital once and then returned to the police station, and after his health condition deteriorated again, he was not transferred to the hospital. The third, 23, died after about 19 months of detention, and the circumstances of his death remain unknown. The remaining two, who were 22 and 44 years old at the time of their arrest, also died in custody. Despite the end of the litigation stages in this case and the issuance of a final sentence of three years imprisonment for those involved in it, the defendants continued to be detained at the police station instead of being transferred to a public correctional and rehabilitation centre, thus depriving them of their fundamental rights, including the right to exercise and healthcare, in violation of Article 3 of the Prisons Regulation Law, which stipulates that those sentenced to prison sentences for a period of more than three months shall be held at a public correctional and rehabilitation centre - not a police station - unless the remainder of the sentence is less than three months. They have not previously been held at a public correctional and rehabilitation centre. All these conditions apply to those involved in this case, as they had more than a year left of the final verdict since the Court of Cassation’s ruling was issued, yet they continued to be illegally detained at the police station.

In the second case, which dates back to 2025, a 44-year-old defendant died less than a month after his detention at the Omraniya police station. The cause of his death remains unknown. He was sentenced to one year in prison before the Court of Appeal dropped the case over his death.

In the third case, an approximately 42-year-old man died from cancer and multiple sclerosis (an immune disease that affects the nervous system and movement). He died a few weeks after his arrest. The police station was not a place of detention designed to provide the minimum healthcare required for his condition.

Under Article 25 of the Code of Criminal Procedures, which empowers anyone who knows of a crime to report it to the Public Prosecution without the need for a complaint or request, the EIPR’s complaint calls on the Public Prosecution to use its powers stipulated in Article 85 of the Prisons Regulation Law, which gives prosecutors the authority to enter places of detention, review the conditions of detainees, hear their complaints, and take the necessary measures in the event of violations or cases of “illegal” detention or endangerment. EIPR stresses that the death of seven detainees in one police station requires urgent and serious action that should not be less than the immediate suspension from work of the warden and officers in charge of detaining the accused and referring them for investigation in preparation for holding accountable those found responsible for this tragedy, in addition to taking immediate measures to ensure the safety of the remaining detainees.

The recurrence of deaths inside the Omraniya police station within a short time and their occurrence in similar circumstances that carry strong suspicions of medical negligence and lack of supervision reveal a dangerous pattern of violations and disregard for the lives of detainees and prisoners. The interior ministry protects detainees’ lives and provides them with healthcare. This large number of deaths also indicates that detention conditions in that police station have deteriorated in such a way that they pose a serious threat to the lives and safety of those detained there.

EIPR stresses that the continued detention of individuals at police stations despite the issuance of final sentences against them, in addition to the detention of critically ill individuals who did not receive the necessary healthcare, is a flagrant violation of local laws and international conventions. Therefore, EIPR calls on Public Prosecutor Mohamed Shawky to use his legal powers and order an urgent consideration of the complaint it submitted, hold accountable those found guilty, take all necessary measures to protect all the remaining detainees at the police station and prevent the recurrence of these grave violations.