The case of Egyptian citizen Ali Mahmoud Mohamed Abdel-Wanees continues to shed light on grave human rights violations faced by individuals subjected to forced deportation and enforced disappearance, amid a complete absence of official information regarding their fate.
His wife, Zeinab Abdel Salam, reported that her husband was handed over to the Egyptian authorities under opaque circumstances in early September 2025, after having gone missing on 19 August following his deportation from Turkey to Nigeria, without any official notification and without allowing his family or lawyer any form of contact with him.
This enforced disappearance constitutes a clear violation of international human rights standards, which prohibit enforced disappearance and oblige states to protect individuals from forced deportation, torture, or other forms of ill-treatment.
The continued detention of Abdel-Wanees without informing his family or legal representatives of his legal status represents a flagrant breach of the principles of a fair trial and the right to defence. It also reflects a state of legal impunity that raises serious concerns over his physical and psychological safety.
Such cases are widely regarded as part of a broader pattern of abuse, in which unlawful deportations and enforced disappearances are used as tools of pressure against individuals accused in political cases, while denying them their fundamental rights to a fair and public trial.
These practices undermine the rule of law and foster an atmosphere of fear and mistrust towards judicial and security institutions. They also stand in direct contradiction to Egypt’s obligations under international human rights law, including the Convention against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
At present, Ali Mahmoud remains forcibly disappeared. His family is calling for the immediate disclosure of his place of detention, for him to be allowed to communicate with his relatives and lawyer, and for an end to these practices that violate basic human rights.
The case of Abdel-Wanees once again underscores the urgent need to strengthen transparency and accountability in cases of deportation and detention, to prevent the use of enforced disappearance as a tool of political pressure, and to reaffirm that international law and human rights must prevail over all political or security considerations.
