The Supreme State Security Prosecution has ordered the detention of 14 Egyptian citizens for 15 days pending investigation, following their first appearance after being forcibly disappeared for varying periods. Their detention took place without any legal accountability regarding the conditions of their confinement, in clear violation of their most basic legal and human rights.
Among those detained are three young women: Iman Abdel Azim Mohamed, Iman Fathy Abdel Maqsoud, and Nada Medhat Hassan. The remaining eleven detainees are: Adham Hamdy Abdel Fattah, Bassem Mohamed Khodr, Saeed Ali Ahmed, El-Sayed Ali Manee’, Ali Saad Mohamed, Farag Abdel Halim Kandil, Mohamed Ahmed Ali, Mohamed Bakr Mohamed, Mohamed Adel El-Sayed, Mahmoud Refai Mohamed, and Marwan Ibrahim Mohamed.
Families of the detainees confirmed that their relatives were taken by security forces without warrants or disclosure of their whereabouts. They were later brought before the prosecution in a visibly exhausted physical and psychological state, having been denied any contact with lawyers or family throughout their detention.
They now face a set of recurring accusations commonly used in freedom of expression cases, including: joining a terrorist organisation, spreading false news, misusing social media, and receiving funding. These charges are frequently used to justify prolonged detention without a fair trial.
This development comes amid growing concerns over the expansion of enforced disappearances in Egypt, which have increasingly become a systematic tool for silencing dissent and targeting activists, in the context of widespread judicial silence and ongoing erosion of constitutional guarantees for rights and freedoms.
