As the fourth anniversary of the opening of Badr Prison Complex in the last quarter of 2021 approaches, The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) today released a report entitled “Propaganda vs. Reality: Systematic Violations of Inmates’ Rights in Badr Model Prison”. /The report covers the first three years of the new prison complex's operation, dating from its official opening and the start of prisoner transfers from other prisons, until the end of 2024. The report compares two conflicting narratives of what detainees experienced at the Badr complex during that period:

1. The government narrative: praising the conditions inside Badr prisons, typically following a few official visits.

2. The counter-narrative: presented by a number of detainees, their families, and their lawyers, which emphasises the difficult conditions and the exacerbation of various forms of violence against them compared to previous prisons.

Based on the testimonies it received as well as complaints and reports it has reviewed, EIPR found that violence against detainees appears to have become easier and more systematic due to the new institutional arrangements and the technological tools that have been introduced into the prison management system and are now being used punitively. This makes imprisonment in the new prisons a double punishment, whether the detainees are being held in pre-trial detention or have been convicted and are serving prison sentences..

At the time of publication, the Badr Security Complex holds a number of detainees who are absolutely prevented from exercising their basic rights, such as exercise, reading, and visitations. These are rights that do not require any increase in spending, infrastructural upgrades, or new construction, but only a decision to allow and provide the minimum rights of prisoners and detainees.

The report is divided into four main parts:

• Part One traces the process of transferring detainees from various prisons to the Badr Security Complex to assess the preparedness of the Ministry of Interior—represented by the Prisons Department—for this massive undertaking. It also takes stock of the impact of the transfer on the rights of prisoners and their families, and the readiness of the new prisons themselves to receive detainees and their suitability for living conditions in accordance with Egyptian legislation and international conventions.

• Part Two examines the prison infrastructure and the layout and division of cells based on testimonies received by EIPR, contrasting them with what the Ministry of Interior presents in its promotional films about the “new correctional and rehabilitation centres.”

• Part Three attempts to assess the living conditions of detainees and their exercise of their constitutional and legal rights with regard to exercise, food, access to education and information, adequate healthcare, communication with the outside world through visits and correspondence between detainees and their families, as well as the impact of the prison's remote location on the families of detainees. In this respect, the report documents the effect of the location on detainees' ability to communicate with their relatives in the absence of an accessible public transport option, and attempts to estimate the financial cost families incur to reach them.

• Part Four attempts to understand the context in which news spread about a number of detainees going on strike or committing suicide, and to analyse the approach chosen by the authorities in responding to such claims and allegations.

The investigation relied on a qualitative research methodology, whereby EIPR conducted interviews with the families of current and former detainees in Badr 1 and Badr 3 prisons, which are designated for tpre-trial detainees and convicts in cases based on  “political” charges. EIPR also interviewed defence counsel representing clients detained in the same prisons, who regularly attended hearings on the renewal of their clients' pre-trial detention. In some cases, these hearings have become the only means of communicating with detainees and ascertaining the conditions of detention inside the prison, whether their cases are being heard before the Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP) or the terrorism circuits of the Badr Court convening in the deliberation chambers. .

Given the absence of regular official statements or detailed reports on conditions inside the Badr Security Complex, the scarcity of official visits that merely praise conditions without providing any real details, and the inability of any independent civil society organisation to conduct  visits to Egyptian prisons; EIPR relied, in addition to these interviews, on monitoring news, media material and official reports issued by various government agencies regarding the security complex, in order to compare the official narrative with that of detainees, families, and lawyers. EIPR also conducted a legal analysis of Egyptian legislation and international conventions and rules on detention to determine the extent to which the relevant authorities are complying with these laws and whether the laws themselves require amendment.

EIPR emphasises that the results of its investigation into conditions inside the new prison, based on available sources of information, clearly show that the current situation requires a review of security policies and management, as well as a serious investigation by the investigative authorities. The report presents a set of clear measures and recommendations that can be taken into account and implemented by the competent authorities in order to enforce existing laws. Crucially, those measures do not require additional resources or new investment, but merely the will to improve the conditions of prisoners and preserve their lives and rights, and the belief that they are citizens who have not yet been proven guilty, or who have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment that may vary in length but is temporary in any case - and thus it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior to preserve their lives and health in the meantime.

To view the full report