Dozens of prisoners in Egypt have reportedly been offered amnesty in exchange for participating in a scripted conference with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi planned in Tora prison next month, a local independent publication reported on Sunday.

The president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, announced on Wednesday plans to inaugurate the country’s largest prison complex within weeks, amid continued calls on his government to release thousands of political prisoners.

Amnesty International on Thursday accused Egyptian security agencies of “persistent intimidation and harassment” of human rights defenders as a political tactic to silence them.

Egypt has announced that doctors, government employees, teachers, university professors, admin workers and students above the age of 18 will get the coronavirus vaccine in September.

The health of more than 1,000 political prisoners is at risk in Egypt’s Scorpion Prison as scabies and other skin diseases are spreading.

An NGO in Egypt has raised concerns over prisoners contracting various skin diseases in the notorious Tora high security prison.

Egypt has closed its main border crossing point with the Gaza Strip amid tensions with the territory’s Hamas rulers, officials have said.

Egypt’s Ministry of Interior announced on Monday the killing of two criminals in an exchange of fire with police officers in Assiut, Upper Egypt.

A report issued on Friday by the Egyptian Network for Human Rights (ENHR) accused the administration of Tora Prison of causing the death of political prisoner Tajuddin Abdel-Qader Allam, The New Khaleej news website reported.

On 9 March last year, the Egyptian Ministry of the Interior banned prison visits under the pretext of curbing the spread of Covid-19.