Literally a month later, Egypt witnessed a second suicide attempt by a political prisoner in the country – this time Abdulrahman Tariq, known as Mocco, from the infamous Thor or Scorpio prison in Cairo.
Mocco, who works at the Nedal Center for Rights and Freedoms, was arrested in 2013 after criticizing a federal law against civil demonstrations.
Mocco was then sentenced to three years in prison and another three years on parole. However, after his release in September 2019, he was arrested again on charges of joining and financing an alleged terrorist group.
In March 2020, Mocco received a new parole, but remained in prison. A few months after another decision of the same nature, he remains in custody.
Mocha suffers from hypertension and has already gone on a hunger strike, rejecting the terms of his arrest and the fact that the authorities are arbitrarily adding new charges to prevent his release.
His sister Sarah reported that Mocco tried to commit suicide as a final attempt to get out of prison. According to her, the prison administration refused to help him: “Even the simplest request remains prohibited.”
READ: Amnesty calls on Egypt to investigate videos of extrajudicial executions
In July, blogger Mohamed Ibrahim, known as Mohamed Oxygen, tried to commit suicide after he was not allowed to see his family for fifteen months and money sent by relatives was confiscated, but he could not even buy food.
Ibrahim took sleeping pills and overdose; then he was taken to the hospital.
Ibrahim was arrested in 2018, released the following year and detained again as part of the Egyptian regime’s crackdown on General and President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi against popular protests in September 2019.
Both suicide attempts highlight the appalling prison conditions in Egypt, where prisoners rarely have access to medical care.
Abdullah Boumedien, 15, from North Sinai province, also attempted suicide in March after three years of separation from his family.
After the incident, he recovered, but is still being held in inhuman conditions.
