Scorpion Prison

Scorpion Prison is located two kilometers from the gate of the official Tora Prison area, but its position as a high security prison, and like the last of the cluster in the famous Tora chain, made its location, even though it is at the back of the prisons, distinctive as it is surrounded by a wall of seven meters high. The gates are armored from the inside and the outside, and the officers' offices are completely behind iron bars and barriers.{{Cite web|url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20151220-the-graveyard-an-inside-look-into-alaqrab-prison/|title=The graveyard: An inside look into Scorpion Prison|date=December 20, 2015|website=Middle East Monitor}}

The idea of a series of high-security prisons was proposed by a group of officers upon their return from a training mission in the United States, and the Ministry of Interior considered it a creative and sufficient idea to fill what it considered a deficiency in its policy with armed groups in particular. In 1991, former Interior Minister Hassan al-Alfi and a group of his assistants-among them Major General Habib el-Adly, who was Assistant Minister for State Security Affairs at the time - began preparing these American ideas and placing them on the priority of immediate implementation.

In the same year, Tora high-security prison (known thereafter - among the detainees - Scorpion Prison) began to be constructed and took two years to build, completing on May 30, 1993.

The prison consists of 320 cells that house approximately 2,000 inmates.{{Cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/06/egypt-generation-of-young-activists-imprisoned-in-ruthless-bid-to-crush-dissent/|title=Egypt: Generation of young activists imprisoned in ruthless bid to crush dissent|website=www.amnesty.org|date=30 June 2015}} divided into 4 horizontal wards that take the shape of the letter H, each cell with a lamp of 100 watt power controlled by the fluctuations of the penal policy in the prison administration, so that the administration can cut off the water and lighting and close the windows as it deems appropriate. On the other hand, the engineering drawing allocated an area of 25 meters by 15 meters in the shape of the letter L for the purpose of "occasional" exercise. In addition, 20 cells are used as disciplinary wards for political prisoners in which lighting and conversation are prohibited. On June 26, 1993, Al-Adly attended as Assistant Minister, who made sure that the new prison was successful in terms of its ability to keep detainees and interrogate them in various ways.

Each ward, in high security, is completely separated from the rest of the prison, once its armored outer gate is closed, so the detainees are not even able to communicate through cells, as prisoners do in regular prisons, as a result of the huge quantities of reinforced concrete that prevent sound from travelling.

Speaking of al-Aqrab, Colonel Omar Afifi stated:

Al-Aqrab prison was designed so that the sunlight never enters any of its cells during the day. As a result, inmates develop diseases due to the lack of vitamin D, whose scarcity leads to weakness in the mind and in the body. The prison also suffers from lack of ventilation. During summer, temperatures within it rise to unbearable levels, while in winter it turns into a freezer.{{cite web |url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20151213-al-aqrab-the-egyptian-prison-with-carcinogenic-asbestos-and-fatal-diseases/ |title=Al-Aqrab: the Egyptian prison with carcinogenic Asbestos and fatal diseases |publisher=Middle East Monitor |date=2016-12-13 |access-date=2016-08-08}}

• Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif (2004-present)
• † Mohamed Morsi (2013–2019), deposed President of Egypt,{{Cite web|url=https://www.detentionreview.com/|title=Detention Review Panel|website=Detention Review Panel|language=en-US|access-date=2019-07-03}} who died in prison of a heart attack.{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/calls-prompt-transparent-probe-morsi-death-190619004225655.html|title=UN calls for 'prompt and thorough' probe into Morsi's death|website=www.aljazeera.com}}
• † Essam el-Erian (2013–2020), vice chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party, who died in prison of a heart attack.
• Essam El-Haddad (2013–present){{cite web |url=http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/89686/Egypt/Politics-/Senior-Morsi-aides-transferred-to-Cairo-prison;-ch.aspx |title=Senior Morsi aides transferred to Cairo prison charges yet to be filed |publisher=Ahram English |author=Elsayed Gamal Eldeen |date=2013-12-21 |access-date=2016-08-07}}
• Husam Abu al-Bukhari (2013–present)
• Gehad El-Haddad (2014–present){{Cite web|url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170228-jailed-muslim-brotherhood-spokesman-put-in-disciplinary-cell-over-new-york-times-article-mother/|title=Jailed Brotherhood spokesman disciplined for New York Times article|date=February 28, 2017|website=Middle East Monitor}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.ca/news/egypt-end-gehad-el-haddads-solitary-confinement-and-denial-medical-care|title=Egypt: End Gehad el-Haddad's solitary confinement and denial of medical care|date=May 28, 2018|website=Amnesty International Canada}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.freehaddad.org/2014/01/26/gehad-transferred-to-scorpion-prison/|title=Gehad transferred to Scorpion Prison|date=January 26, 2014|website=FreeHaddad.org}}
• Mohamed Fahmy (2014–2015){{Cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/journalist-mohamed-fahmy-details-grim-imprisonment-in-new-memoir-1.3860175|title=Journalist Mohamed Fahmy details 'grim' imprisonment in new memoir|date=November 21, 2016|work=CBC News}}
• Khaled al-Qazzaz (2014–2015){{cite news|title=Stephen Harper, Khaled Al-Qazzaz needs your help|url=https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2014/07/15/stephen_harper_khaled_alqazzaz_needs_your_help.html|access-date=July 12, 2015|publisher=Toronto Star|date=July 15, 2014}}
• † Hamdi Hassan (2013–2021){{cite news|title=Former Egyptian MP Hamdi Hassan Dies inside the Scorpion Prison|url=https://aohr.org.uk/former-egyptian-mp-hamdi-hassan-dies-inside-the-scorpion-prison/|access-date=November 29, 2021|publisher=Arab Organization for Human Rights|date=November 27, 2021}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20151213-al-aqrab-the-egyptian-prison-with-carcinogenic-asbestos-and-fatal-diseases/ Al-Aqrab: the Egyptian prison with carcinogenic Asbestos and fatal diseases] In: Middle East Monitor, 13. Dezember 2015
• [https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20151220-the-graveyard-an-inside-look-into-alaqrab-prison/ The graveyard: An inside look into Alaqrab Prison. von Haitham Ghoneim.] In: Middle East Monitor, 20. Dezember 2015
• [http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2016/01/05/status-of-al-aqrab-prison-remains-in-dispute/ Status of Al-Aqrab prison remains in dispute]
• [http://www.menafn.com/1094479354/Egypt--Ministry-denies-worsening-conditions-in-Al-Aqrab-Prison Egypt - Ministry denies worsening conditions in Al-Aqrab Prison]

{{coord missing|Egypt}}

Category:Helwan Governorate

Category:Prisons in Egypt

Category:1993 establishments in Egypt

Category:Buildings and structures in Cairo