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Former political prisoner speaks out on Egypt's jails

In regard to treatment of prisoners in Egypt’s jails, political activist and lawyer Mahienour el-Massry tells Al-Monitor, “Things in prison don't go according to the law. Rather, they go according to the practice of the prison commissioner.”

Female relatives of women prisoners shout slogans against the military and the interior ministry at an event called 'Release Our Girls' during International Women's Day in front of the Press Syndicate in Cairo, Egypt, March 8, 2016. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany - RTS9UR1
Female relatives of women prisoners shout slogans against the military and the Interior Ministry at an event called "Release Our Girls" during International Women's Day in front of the Press Syndicate in Cairo, March 8, 2016. — REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

Mahienour el-Massry is an Egyptian political activist and lawyer who is well-known for employee rights advocacy and for taking part in the January 25 Revolution and June 30, 2013, demonstrations. She is one of the first activists who helped uncover the facts surrounding the killing of Khaled Saeed — the young Egyptian whose death in police custody is widely cited as helping spark the 2011 revolution.

On May 20, 2014, the court upheld a decision to sentence Massry to prison under the protest law for “demonstrating without permit and assaulting security forces,” for protesting during the trial of those accused of killing Saeed on Dec. 2, 2013.

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