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Egypt: Four months of enforced disappearance of two young men in Beni Suef.

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Geneva 30 November 2017

Egypt project -Detention Watch

“Committee for Justice” calls upon relevant Egyptian authorities to reveal where victims of enforced disappearance are imprisoned and guarantee their rights to a fair trial and freedom from bodily harm. As part of the Detention Watch Program in Egypt, CFJ team documented two among many others, incidents of enforced disappearances. These two incidents, however, differ from most enforced disappearance cases in Egypt in that the two individuals, both from Beni Seuf Governorate, have been under enforced disappearance for around four months now and counting. This prolonged period of disappearance increases the anguish of their relatives over their disappeared family members and raises serious concern in them over their fate or if they will ever see them again.

The two individuals are: Abdullah Hassan Mohammed Ahmed, a 20 years old engineering student, and Islam Jamal Ahmed Jundi, 22 years old commerce faculty student. They are both from Nasser Center in Beni Suef Governorate and were arrested on the same day, on 31 July 2017.

Arrest and disappearance of Abdullah Hassan Mohammed Ahmed:

On 31 July 2017, at 7 p.m. Abdullah was talking with a neighbour in front of his house when a microbus stopped next to them and two men got out of it. The two men gripped Mr. Abdullah and put him in the microbus. The neighbour asked them who are you, and they told him its none of his business and that they are the police. His relatives went to the police station, and the officials there said that no one came here and that this seems to be the work of the National Security Agency. He has not been seen or heard from since his arrest.

Arrest and disappearance of Islam Jamal Ahmed Jundi:

On 31 July 2017, at 11:45 p.m., he and his employer were coming back home from work when a microbus with National Security Agents stopped them. Mr. Islam ran from them when they tried to catch him, and they ran after him and called him “thief” which led to bystanders catching him and hitting him along with the National Security Agents. They then took him with them in the microbus. Since then, his family have not seen or heard from him.

The relatives of both Abdullah and Islam, as with many of families of enforced disappearance victims, filed complaints and send telegraphs to the General Prosecutor, the General Attorney and the National Human Rights Commission and filed reports on the arrest and disappearance in prosecution offices and police stations. However, they didn’t receive any response or assistance from state authorities on any of their efforts to reveal the whereabouts of their relatives.

“committee for justice” had sent out an urgent call to the United nations team considered with the enforced disappearance cases demanding their quick interference with the Egyptian authorities in order to release them or present them to a fair trial.

“committee for justice” confirms that the cases of enforced disappearance in Egypt have become a regular behavior applied by the authorities that led the citizens to lose trust in the legal organisations and investigation quarters that takes the authorities and national security’s side.

update:

Update: according to the families of Islam and Abdullah, both were presented in the state security prosecution on the 25th November 2017 and they got 15 days of retention and were deported to Al-akrab prison. They both are accused of a case named “Tala’e Hasm”, Islam’s case number is 760 year 2017 and Abdullah’s number is not known for his family, they should be presented again in the prosecution on the 6th of December. It is worth noting that these information were told to the families by a lawyer, but none of them was seen or visited in Al-akrab.

 

For more information and media requests or inquiries, please get in touch with us (+41229403538 / media@cfjustice.org)

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