Scorpion Prison

The Al-Aqrab Prison (Arabic: سجن العقرب‎, lit. 'The Scorpion Prison'; official name Tora Prison 992 Maximum-Security) is a notorious torture prison in Helwan, Egypt, south of Cairo. It is used for political prisoners and opponents of the Egyptian government, who include Muslim Brotherhood and April 6 Youth Movement leaders, as well as political activists. Inmates allegedly suffer from ill-treatment and shortages of food.[1][2] The prison was built in 1993 under Interior Minister Habib El-Adly,[3] and is part of the Tora Prison complex.[4]

Al-Aqrab has about 320 cells that house approximately 2,000 inmates.[5]

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.[6]

The prison became known during the military rule of dictator Hosni Mubarak.[7]