Egypt's prosecution says death of researcher not a crime

Ayman Hadhoud died of a chronic heart condition, officials say

Egyptian policemen stand guard on Cairo's landmark Tahrir Square on January 25, 2017, during celebrations marking the sixth anniversary of the 2011 uprising that overthrew former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. AFPShow less

Egypt’s prosecution has ruled out criminality in the death of an economic researcher, saying the 42-year-old man died of a chronic heart condition. The researcher was found dead in custody last month.

“His body shows no traces of injuries resulting from criminal violence, resistance or an altercation,” the prosecution said in a statement. “The body is also free of poisonous material or drugs … The death was caused by a chronic heart condition that led to the stoppage of the blood and breathing cycles.”

Ayman Hadhoud was arrested on February 6 on suspicion of attempting to break into an apartment in the Cairo district of Zamalek. He was later referred by prosecutors to a psychiatric hospital in Cairo for observation following his “irresponsible” behaviour while in detention, according to the Interior Ministry, which oversees the police and domestic security agencies.

FILE PHOTO: Security and police vehicles guard Cairo's Tora prison, where the trial of ousted Egyptian Islamist President Mohamed Mursi took place, in Cairo, Egypt June 17, 2019. REUTERS / Amr Abdallah Dalsh / File Photo

The ministry also denied allegations made on social media pages that it was a case of forced disappearance, saying the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group designated as a terrorist group in Egypt, was behind the accusations.

Hadhoud was an economist and member of the Reform and Development Party, whose leader, former MP Mohamed Anwar Sadat, is a nephew of former Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat. He has in the past mediated in the release of prisoners, mostly accused of being members of the Muslim Brotherhood or spreading false news.

Hadhoud, a 1997 graduate of the American University in Cairo, had written extensively on social media about the government’s economic policies, primarily questioning its priorities. His death unleashed a storm on social media by activists claiming it was the latest episode in the government’s poor record on rights.

The office of the public prosecution said earlier this month that it was notified of Hadhoud’s death from a cardiac arrest on March 5. Members of Hadhoud's immediate family were quoted by local media outlets as saying they were informed of his death only this month.

“The General Prosecution urges everyone to be extremely cautious and not follow rumours or fake news that some spread for specific aims,” said the prosecution’s statement late on Monday night.

“The charter between the prosecution and society has always been loyalty and sincere work to let justice and rights prevail across the nation,” said the prosecution. It also noted that a brother of Hadhoud’s had suspected that a criminal act may have been behind his sibling’s death.

Authorities in Egypt have repeatedly denied charges that police and security agencies engage in forced disappearances. This is a term used to describe detentions by security agencies who do not formally inform lawyers or relatives of the whereabouts of the detainees or the charges they face until a much later stage.

They also deny allegations of systematic torture of detainees by police and security agencies. They deny that there are political detainees in Egypt, insisting that since the 2013 overthrow of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Morsi everyone in detention is afforded due legal process.

Rights groups, however, claim that thousands, mostly Muslim Brotherhood members, have been detained and many have been denied due process. The government denies these claims and says it has embarked on a national programme to address human rights issues and that work on prisons modelled after detention facilities in the West is near completion.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, who led the military’s overthrow of Morsi amid mass street protests against the leader, has repeatedly criticised what he says is the common but narrow view of human rights as those pertaining only to freedom of expression or the right of assembly.

In office since 2014 with the economy and security his top priorities, he argues that this notion belittles the significance of other rights, such as decent housing, good education and adequate health care.