The fact finding committee assigned to investigate events in Egypt since the 30 June protests which led to the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi has denied recent torture allegations from Islamists detained in Cairo's Aqrab prison.
Last week, Islamist detainees including jihadist Salafists released a statement announcing a hunger strike and detailing their testimonies of torture while in the prison.
The statement said that the detainees face beatings and electrocution in addition to being given very little food to eat and denied family visits.
The committee – headed by judge Fouad Abdel-Monem Riad, who was appointed by interim President Adly Mansour – said that it visited the prison on Tuesday and spoke with the detainees, who denied the allegations of torture.
The committee's statement said that the detainees' only complaint was that visits involved a glass barrier and that they were being detained alone and not together.
The statement further stipulated that their situation was not considered solitary confinement as they could still interact with others and were being detained in better conditions in terms of the space of their rooms and the availability of a private bathroom.
Several detainees refused to meet the committee, including Muslim Brotherhood figure Khairat El-Shater, the statement said.
The committee plans to visit other prisons in the coming days, it concluded.
Testimonies of torture have been on the rise in recent months, with accounts from both Islamists and non-Islamists alike, several of which have filed legal complaints.
The interior ministry has repeatedly denied the torture claims.
