Sana Seif, sister of Egyptian political prisoner Alaa Abdelfattah, confirmed that she witnessed torture in Egyptian prisons.
In Interview to a British newspaper Guardian, a 28-year-old activist, described flying out of the country to London after his release as a difficult decision. In exile, Sana reaffirmed her longing for her family and friends, and her anguish to leave the country where her brother was imprisoned, by going on hunger strike.
Sana has been arrested three times since the Egyptian revolution in January 2011 and is fighting to free his brother, one of the North African country’s top political prisoners.
“I had to reflect a lot,” Sana observed. “This is my third time in prison… I have to accept my future and understand the real threats imposed by the authorities”.
“The cell I was in the first time held seven women,” Sana said. “At this time, there were 82 women in one place”.
According to the report, those accused of terrorism by the military regime of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi were treated differently and even more brutally by prison officials.
“I was interrogated for hours in very thin clothes, at very low temperatures and with air conditioning. Even my lawyer doesn’t know what the charges against me are. They told me that no matter what happened to me, no one would listen or believe me.
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From his cell, he could hear the screams of other tortured prisoners, which Sana indicated was a deliberate way for the guards to torture him in secret. So, instead of attacking her directly, the prison guards took the women to their cells and tortured them in front of them.
In 2021, Sana Saif was sentenced to a year and a half in prison for “spreading fake news”. His arrest took place in front of the public prosecutor’s office building shortly after his mother filed a complaint of trespassing.
