Contaminated food, intensive isolation and inhumane treatment are the Ramadan activities burned into the memories of former prisoners during the reign of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. This year Ramadan came without fear or sadness. Youm7 met with four prisoners who were given freedom after Mubarak stepped down. Youm7 talked with them about their memories of Ramadan in prisons. Sheikh Mohsen Tawfik, one of the prisoners, sat with his family for Iftar without fear because no officers will attack his house or take him from his family. He also unpacked his bag he used to put behind the door in case of sudden arrest. “During this holy month of Ramadan, all prisoners sought to utilize simple things to make this month special, even by using the lamps,” he said. “On the first day of Ramadan, we shared the joy of changing the lamp in the prison, although there were sudden inspections as punishment,” Tawfik said. “The officers ordered all the prisoners to get out in the prison yard and sit on their knees and raise their hands; then they electrocuted us. They let the dogs roam around us; they would pour water and soap on the floor where they would ask us to run fast. This was brutal. You could see those who are falling and breaking legs. And when someone screams in pain they beat him more.” “Iftar wasn't enough for one individual. It included three loaves of bread, one spoon of rice and a small piece of cheese or jam for all prisoners in one cell. For El Sohour we received empty sandwiches and the water was not good.” “We used to get water from the stored Jerry cans, and when we asked the prison department to fix the tap they tortured us.” Tawfik met others in the prison, like Mohamed Deef, who was responsible for the preparation of Gateau from the remaining bread and jam. Another young man used an elastic band found in a pair of pants to write on the walls. Tawfik also recalled brutal scenes of overcrowding in the 1990s in Torah Prison where he claims he saw 28 prisoners, naked, in a cell designed to fit ten. “We were fragile, our clothes were torn, we had bare feet, and the cell was made of windowless concrete. We used to wait for food time. We were infected with tuberculosis, scabies and skin infections,” Tawfik said. Mohamed Mahmoud Saleh, the oldest Egyptian prisoner, used to call his friends from his neighbors' cells to tell them Happy Ramadan. This past July, Mohamed went back home in a wheelchair to spend Ramadan with his sister and her sons. Mohamed remembered how he spent Ramadan in prison, where they endured a starvation diet and solitary confinement. Mohamed said that Mubarak's trial will bring his will back.
