Wadi el-Natrun Prison (Arabic: سجن وادي النطرون) is an Egyptian prison complex in the Beheira Governorate, north of Cairo. It consists of two separate facilities 5 kilometers apart.[1]
2011 prison break
editThe prison was used to incarcerate Islamists and other political prisoners under the regime of Hosni Mubarak and after the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, several prominent Muslim Brotherhood activists were imprisoned there. On 30 January 2011, thousands of prisoners were helped to escape from the prison. A June 2013 court concluded that Hamas and Hezbollah worked with the Muslim Brotherhood to orchestrate the jailbreak,[2] though some prisoners have suggested that those responsible for freeing them were in fact police officers acting under Interior Ministry orders.[1] 34 Brotherhood activists, including the future president Mohamed Morsi and Saad El-Katatni, were among those who escaped from the prison.[2] After the coup against Morsi in July 2013, Morsi faced trial for his role in the prison break. He and 105 others were sentenced to death on 16 May 2015.[3] The court of cassation in November 2016 overturned the death sentence on Morsi and five other Muslim Brotherhood members and then ordered a retrial for the similar charges.[4]
In May 2022, British-Egyptian political prisoner Alaa Abd El Fattah was transferred to Wadi Al-Natroun Prison, where he has access to reading material, television, and written correspondence [5]
References
edit- ^ a b Ali Abdel Mohsen, Local recounts prisoners' tales of forced escape from Wadi al-Natroun, 3 March 2011
- ^ a b Tarek El-Tablawy & Salma El Wardany, Egyptian Court Says Foreign Groups Involved in 2011 Jailbreaks, 23 June 2013
- ^ "Update: Morsi, Badie sentenced to death in "prison break case"". The Cairo Post. 16 May 2015. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
- ^ "Mohammed Morsi death sentence overturned". BBC. 15 November 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
- ^ "Egypt: Ensure Alaa Abdel Fattah is not detained after completing length of unjust prison term". 26 September 2024. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
29°57′06″N 31°16′42″E / 29.9517°N 31.2783°E
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