Annex Reference to international human rights law In connection with the above alleged facts and concerns, we call your Excellency’s Government’s attention to the rights to life, to be free from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, to liberty and security of the person, to due process and fair trial, and to freedom of opinion and expression as set forth in articles 3, 5, 9, 10 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and articles 6, 7, 9, 10, 14 and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), ratified by Egypt in 1982; as well as of the right of everyone, including people prisoners and detainees, to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, recognized in article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, also ratified by Egypt on 14 August 1982. The right to life constitutes a jus cogens and customary international law norm (General Comment No. 36, paragraph 2). States hold heightened due diligence obligations in relation to protect the right to life of individuals who are detained under their auspices “since by arresting, detaining, imprisoning or otherwise depriving individuals of their liberty, States parties assume the responsibility to care for their life and bodily integrity” (General Comment No. 36, paragraph 25). Inadequate conditions of detention can be a contributing factor to deaths and serious injuries in detention, and when seriously inadequate, can pose an immediate or long-term threat to the lives of detainees. In addition, States must respect the right to health and ensure equal access to health care at least equivalent to care available in the community for all persons, including those deprived of their liberty, taking into account the additional risks linked to incarceration (A/HRC/38/36). In its General Comment No. 14, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights reiterates that “States are obliged to respect the right to health by, inter alia, refraining from denying or limiting equal access for all persons, including prisoners or detainees, to preventive, curative and palliative health services”. The former Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health (A/HRC/38/36) indicated that “[i]n contexts of confinement and deprivation of liberty, violations of the right to health interfere with fair trial guarantees, the prohibition of arbitrary detention and of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the enjoyment of the right to life” and that [v]iolations of the right to health emerge as both causes and consequences of confinement and deprivation of liberty”. Due to the prisoner’s lack of communication with the outside worlds, solitary confinement enhances the risk of ill-treatment and torture. According to the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules), the provision of health care for prisoners is a State responsibility, free of charge, without discrimination and at the same level of the health care services provided in the community (Rule 24). In addition, Rule 27 provides that prisoners requiring specialized treatment or surgery shall be transferred 8