US citizen who once pleaded for President Trump’s assistance dies in Egyptian prison

This appeared in The Millennial Source

US citizen Mustafa Kassem who was detained in Egypt for over six years has died of heart failure resulting from a hunger strike on January 13. Kassem, the 54-year-old Egyptian-born American from New York, was detained in August 2013 in Cairo while visiting his family. He was reportedly mistakenly arrested during an Islamist protest that resulted in the death of hundreds of people.

The case has brought to light the atrocities of the Egyptian prison system, where many inmates are reportedly held for crimes they claim they did not commit or have not been charged for at all during Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi’s crackdown on dissent.

Kassem was reportedly beaten and held in detention for over five years before being sentenced to 15 years in prison without a trial in September 2018.

Plea to Trump

After the sentencing, Kassem sent a letter to US President Donald Trump to inform him of his plight and to ask for help. He told Trump that he was diabetic and was going on a hunger strike, fully aware of his slim chances of surviving the strike.