Egypt: Student Disappeared Following Abduction by Homeland and State Security Forces
Ibrahim Abdulrahman Mohamed Ahmed Abdel Aleem, a student of the Al-Azhar University and anti-government peaceful activist, was abducted on 23 June 2017 from his home in the village of Ramleh in the Qalyubia Governorate, by members of the Homeland Security and State Security Forces. Abdel Aleem was taken to an unknown location and remains missing since. His family, who tried to inquire about his fate and whereabouts with the authorities have been left without any information and are extremely concerned that he might be subjected to torture due to his activism.
On 23 June 2017, at 2.30 am, Abdel Aleem was home when members of the Homeland Security and State Security Forces, wearing uniforms and civilian clothes, raided his apartment in the Ramleh village in the Qalyubia Governorate, and arrested him without a warrant nor reasons. He was taken to an unknown location and remains disappeared since.
Abdel Aleem’s family filed about 11 complaints with the authorities since his arrest, particularly with the Attorney General of Banha, the Attorney General of the Northern District of Qalyubia and the General Prosecutor, they however never received any answer from the authorities. While they inquired about his fate and whereabouts in many police stations, at the headquarters of the State Security and at the Security Department of the Qalyubia Governorate, and received informal information that he might be detained in the headquarters of the State Security Forces, the authorities have continuously denied detaining him leaving him in a state of disappearance. His family fears that he might be subjected to torture due to his anti-government activism.
“Since the military takeover of July 2013, the situation on the ground has gone from bad to worse as the pattern of enforced disappearance of young students and oppositions voices has become a systematic practice carried out in total impunity” said Radidja Nemar, Alkarama's Regional Legal Officer for the Maghreb and the Nile. “The abduction of Abdel Aleem directly fits into this practice, it is time for the Egyptian authorities to understand that a systematic practice of enforced disappearance amounts to a crime against humanity and that perpetrators can be prosecuted under international criminal law ” she added.
The case of Ibrahim Abdulrahman Mohamed Ahmed Abdel Aleem was submitted to the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) on 4 July 2017 in order to request the Egyptian authorities to reveal the fate and whereabouts of the victim.
For more information or an interview, please contact media@alkarama.org (Dir: +41 22 734 1008).