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Upper Egypt prison shaken by riot | Upper Egypt prison shaken by riot |
(about 6 hours later) | |
A prisoner has died and more than 20 people, mostly inmates, have been injured during unrest at a jail in the Upper Egyptian city of Assiut. | |
Officials said the clashes followed rumours about an inmate's death. Some prisoners rioted and took officers hostage and seized guns. | |
The violence continued for several hours. Police used tear gas and live bullets to regain control of the jail. | |
Earlier unconfirmed reports had said unknown gunmen had attacked the prison. | |
Four warders and at least 20 prisoners were said to have been injured in the clashes. | |
An Interior Ministry statement quoted by the Reuters news agency said the riot occurred when fighting broke out between four prisoners who attacked each other with cutlery. | |
Police intervened and punished the inmates with 48 hours in solitary confinement, the statement said. | |
Inmate Ali Abdel Salam died during his solitary confinement, after which "a rumour spread among the prisoners he had died because an officer assaulted him", the statement said. | |
Conflicting reports | |
However, there is some confusion about the identity of the dead inmate. Another report named him as Hani Ghandour, who was serving a seven-year sentence for assault. | |
Another report said Ghandour was killed during armed clashes after a group of 15 gunmen had stormed the building in an attempt to free prisoners. | |
There is no explanation for the discrepancies in the dead man's name or the reason which lay behind the violence. | |
Assiut - about 250 miles (400km) south of Cairo - is the largest city in Upper Egypt, with a population of about 400,000 people. Its jail is reported to hold about 3,000 prisoners. | |
Correspondents say conditions in Egyptian prisons are often dire and overcrowded, and security personnel have been accused of abusing inmates. | Correspondents say conditions in Egyptian prisons are often dire and overcrowded, and security personnel have been accused of abusing inmates. |