AN AMERICAN man who spent six years in an Egyptian jail on what he insisted were false charges has died after going on hunger strike in a case championed by Mike Pence.
Dad-of-two Moustafa Kassem, 54, suffered heart failure on Monday due to his protest, the US State Department announced.
The dual Egyptian-American citizen – a former cab driver from New York – was arrested in Cairo in August 2013 while visiting relatives.
Security officials detained him and accused him of taking part in anti-government protests against a military takeover led by current president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Kassem’s family said he’d just stepped out to exchange money and shop when Egyptian soldiers grabbed his American passport and threw it on the ground.
But Kassem, arrested the night before he was due to return to the US, always maintained he was not linked to any opposition political groups – and said he was wrongfully jailed.
In September 2018, he was sentenced to 15 years in jail along with dozens others over a 2013 sit-in that ended with security forces killing hundreds of protesters.
The sentencing, which included jail terms for more than 600 others, concluded a mass trial of people accused of murder and inciting violence during the pro-Muslim Brotherhood protest at Rabaa Adawiya square in Cairo.
Kassem’s case was one of the top focuses of the Trump administration, championed by Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
I am deeply saddened to learn today the death of U.S. citizen Moustafa Kassem who’d been imprisoned in Egypt
David Schenker
Rights group Pretrial Rights International said Kassem stopped taking liquids last Thursday and died after being transferred to a hospital in Cairo.
The group, who represented Kassem and his family, said in a statement: “A diabetic with a heart condition, prison officials limited access to necessary medications and medical care for the entirety of his (Kassem’s) detention. He remained in pretrial detention for over five years.”
US assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs, David Schenker, said: “I am deeply saddened to learn today the death of U.S. citizen Moustafa Kassem who’d been imprisoned in Egypt.
“His death in custody was needless, tragic and avoidable,” Schenker said. “I will continue to raise our serious concerns over human rights and Americans detained in Egypt at every opportunity.”
Kassem’s sister claimed in February last year that her brother was dying as a result of his hunger strike.
He pleaded with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence to help free him in a series letters sent from his prison cell.
In one letter, he wrote: “Dear President Trump: As an American beginning the hunger strike that could leave my two young children without a father and make my wife a widow, I pray that you secure my freedom.”
