#RamadanInPrison: Egyptians show solidarity with political prisoners in Ramadan

#RamadanInPrison: Egyptians show solidarity with political prisoners in Ramadan
Social media users in Egypt have launched an online campaign to show solidarity with political prisoners who will spend the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan behind bars.
Narrated
2 min read
The New Arab Staff

The New Arab

28 May, 2016
Egyptians showing solidarity with political prisoners [Anadolu]

Egyptians are using the Arabic-language hashtag "#RamadanInPrison" to show solidarity with imprisoned youths who will spend the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan behind bars.

Social media users are also using the hashtag, which quickly gained popularity and topped the trends, to share photos of friends and family members in prison.

The online campaign addresses thousands of political prisoners, mostly detained in the past few years since a popular uprising toppled former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Arbitrary and politically motivated arrests have soared particularly since July 2013, when Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, then defense minister, seized power from Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi.

Prisoners include children, journalists, lawyers, activists, protesters, with many being arrested over online posts criticising Sisi, the government, or the military.

In custody, political prisoners are frequently subjected to flagrant violations that have been condemned by local and international human rights advocates.

Violations include torture, which in many cases has led to death, as well as solitary confinement, deprivation of medical care, and enforced disappearance.

Translation: If Sisi and his men spent one month in an Egyptian prison, they would know that they have reserved their places in the lowest level of hell because of the injustice they have brought upon innocent Egyptians.

Translation: Sisi builds new prisons everyday so the free can spend Ramadan in prison. Translation: Please remember how mothers feel with their sons spending Ramadan in prison. Translation: It's not just imprisonment, but also no health care or food fit for human consumption. Only torture and humiliation. Translation: May God grant patience to mothers whose sons have been taken away and spending Ramadan in prison.

Tags

 
More in Opinion