As human rights violations in Egypt increase, incidents continue to shed light on the practices of enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrests and violations in places of detention, which represent a flagrant violation of national and international legal standards.
The incidents range from the death of detainees under mysterious circumstances to arrest campaigns targeting young men and women without legal basis, highlighting how thousands of families suffer from lack of transparency and justice.
Death of a detainee in an unofficial detention centre
Engineer Mohamed Ezz El-Din El-Shal, 58, died inside the National Security headquarters in Sharqia Governorate only three days after his arrest without legal justification.
El-Shal was arrested from his home in Hehia Center, and was detained in an unofficial place known as the “National Security refrigerator”, where he was subjected to harsh detention conditions, and showed signs of severe exhaustion when he was presented to the prosecution.
His death was announced under mysterious circumstances after a few hours, while the authorities refused to open a serious investigation into the incident or reveal the cause of death.
El-Shal is the third detainee whose death was announced under similar circumstances within two days, as political prisoner Fadl Salim Mahmoud died inside his cell in Minya Prison, while human rights organisations spoke of the death of a third detainee in Badr Prison, and no information about his identity has been revealed yet.
Continued arrests and enforced disappearances
The Supreme State Security Prosecution issued a decision to detain 25 young men, one of whom is Christian, after they appeared before the prosecution after spending varying periods of enforced disappearance.
They were charged with joining a terrorist group, spreading false news, and misusing social media, which are charges the regime directs at its critics to silence and detain them.
The detainees include prominent activists, such as Ibrahim Al-Hafeyan, Ahmed Youssef Suleiman, and David Maher Zaki, who was charged with joining the Muslim Brotherhood, despite being a Christian, which reveals the poor fabrication of accusations against the detainees.
The families of these young men had filed reports with the Public Prosecutor stating that they had been forcibly disappeared, but the authorities did not respond until they suddenly appeared at the State Security Prosecution headquarters.
Forcibly Disappeared of Two Young Women in Mansoura
Two young women, Salma Abdel Majeed Abdullah and Shaima Taha Abdel Hamid Morsi, have been forcibly disappeared since their arrest from their homes in Mansoura a month ago.
This came after security forces stormed their homes in a violent manner, including physical and verbal assault and vandalism of property.
Salma, a pharmacist, 28, and Shaima, a science graduate, 29, have not been brought before any investigative body to date, and their places of detention remain unknown.
The two young women were previously arbitrarily detained in 2014 before being released, while their family members are serving harsh political sentences that have accumulated over the years.
These violations contradict Egypt’s international human rights obligations, and they continue in the absence of any legal accountability or transparency, putting Egypt in front of a major human rights crisis that requires urgent intervention to put an end to these practices.
Open, independent and transparent investigations must be carried out to ensure that those responsible do not escape punishment.
The international community and human rights organisations must also impose pressure to ensure the protection of human rights in the country.
