CAIRO // CAIRO // A US citizen detained in Egypt for violating curfew in August was found dead yesterday in his jail cell, the second foreigner to die in detention in recent weeks.
The US Embassy in Cairo confirmed that an American citizen held prisoner in Ismailia died from an apparent suicide and that it was in contact with Egyptian authorities.
Security officials identified the man as James Henry, 66, a retired US army officer who arrived in Cairo from Bahrain on August 25. Henry was arrested by army troops in northern Sinai three days later while making his way to the border crossing with Gaza in the town of Rafah.
Henry was flown to Ismailia on a military aircraft and handed over to the police who remanded him in custody pending charges, the officials said.
Jailers found Henry dead after he used his belt and shoe laces to hang himself.
Last month, cell mates beat a French man to death after his arrest in Cairo’s upscale district of Zamalek for violating a curfew.
Authorities declared a night-time curfew on much of Egypt in August following a wave of violence after the Islamist president Mohammed Morsi was removed from power by the military. Mr Morsi’s removal was seen as widely popular but caused protests by the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters.
* Associated Press
