CAIRO: Investigations surrounding Sherif El-Filali s death, convicted of spying for Israel, are still in the pipeline, sources from the Maadi prosecutor's office told The Daily Star Egypt. El-Filali, 40, was being held in solitary confinement when he passed away, three days before his death was officially announced by authorities on July 2. The fact that proper procedure was not followed regarding the announcement of El Filali s death shows that the issue is more political than forensic, said lawyer Ahmed Sayed, they did not even specify the cause of death and saying that he died of natural causes is somewhat suspicious. Sayed added that the standard procedure followed with all prisoners, are to first inform the public prosecutor, then inform family members and announce the news of his death. The coroner's report, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm, said that El-Filali s death was due to respiratory and blood circulation failure that led to cardiac arrest. I believe that what caused the death of El-Filali was the bad medical care provided in prison and the bureaucracy of the prison system, unless there are other reasons that played a part which I m not aware of, said Amir Salem, lawyer and head of a human rights organization in Cairo. The bureaucratic system in prison is weak, and the ability to take a decision and provide medical examination is very slow. The inability of the hospital prison to take in emergency cases is apparent and El-Filali should have been transferred immediately to deal with the his medical emergency could, added Salem. El-Filali was first arrested in 2000 and sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was initially released by a state security court because he had willingly reported his activities with the Israeli authorities to the Egyptian intelligence. However President Hosni Mubarak refuted the sentence and re-arrested him so he would stand trial before a military court. According to Sayed, referring El-Filali to a military court was unconstitutional given that he had already been sentenced by a state court and that judges in a military court are usually not trained in judicial matters but are instead concerned with military matters.
