Articles for Egypt

Egypt: Tarek Khidr arrested outside his university - now missing

Tarek Khidr, a student and human rights activist, was arrested on 26 March 2010 outside the main entrance of the University of Alexandria by the State Security Investigation (SSI) services, who took him to an unknown destination. His family have been looking for him ever since his disappearance and have not received any information as to his whereabouts.

Alkarama alerted the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) on 12 April 2010 requesting its urgent intervention with the Egyptian authorities.

13 Apr 2010

Egypt: 11 students kidnapped, tortured and sexually abused by Munufeya police

On 30 March 2010, as a Munufeya University graduation service came to a close, Egyptian Security Services arrested 11 students outside the gates of the university's Faculty of Electronic Engineering. Thousands of students were attending the service.

Following the ceremony, as student began to leave the university grounds, a taskforce of central security agents, intelligence officers and State Security Investigative (SSI) services suddenly attacked and arrested a group of students including a number of female students.

07 Apr 2010

Egypt: Despite WGAD Opinion from September 2008, Khirat Al-Shatar and 3 others remain detained; health deteriorating

In September 2008, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), a group of independent experts mandated by the Human Rights Council to investigate situations of people detained illegally, adopted Opinion 27/2008 regarding the case of Khirat Al-Shatar and 26 other individuals detained in Egypt. The Working Group found their detention to be arbitrary and called on the Egyptian Government to release all those still in detention.

01 Apr 2010

Egypt: the arrest of a group of imams, Kafr El-Sheikh March 31, 2010

On 28 March 2010, Egypt's Interior Ministry ordered the administrative detention of following three Imams of mosques belonging to the Egyptian Ministry of Awqaf:

1. Sheikh Abdul Fattah Farag - Bila Center
2. Sheikh Abdul Muqtadir Abdul Karim Abdul Muqtadir - Al-Nitaq village
3. Sheikh Abdullah Hammad - Al-Kafr Al-Jadid

31 Mar 2010

Egypt: Human rights activist and journalist, Hamdi Taha arrested in Aswan

Repressive measures against journalists and human rights activist have now become common currency in Egypt, where neither domestic nor international laws are respected. The latest victim of this quandary is Hamdi Taha, a 50 year-old journalist from Aswan who was arrested on 27 March 2010 after his home was raided at dawn by plain clothed State Security forces and the Central Security services. During the raid they terrorized his family members and locked them in their bedrooms.

This is not the first time Hamdi Taha has been arrested.

31 Mar 2010

Egypt: Egypt ignores release orders for 21 Muslim Brotherhood leaders; issues administrative detention orders

On Monday 15 March 2010, District Prosecutors ordered the release of 21 Muslim Brotherhood leaders, who were arrested last Friday 12 March 2010 following announcements of their candidatures in Egypt's upcoming November 2010 parliamentary elections.

16 Mar 2010

Egypt : 42 electoral candidates and 145 protestors arrested in one day

42 Muslim Brotherhood leaders were arrested from their homes earlier this morning.

12 Mar 2010

Egypt: SSI in Fayoum terrorize Al-Baradei supporter

On 2 March 2010, Egyptian State Security Intelligence (SSI) in Fayoum City summoned Taha Abdel Tawab Mohammed, a physician from Fayoum governorate in Egypt who had been organising support for Dr. Mohammad Al Baradei, a potential presidential candidate in Egypt's 2011 presidential elections. Mr Tawab Mohammed was warned that if he did not respond to the call on the same day, he and his family would be immediately arrested.

Faced with these threats and allegations, Taha Mohamed had no other choice than to comply and deliver himself to the SSI building in Fayoum.

06 Mar 2010

Egypt: FREED - Ahmed Douma released 18 days after completing sentence

Alkarama has just received news of the release of Ahmed Douma on Monday 22 February 2010. Despite having recently completed a one year prison sentence on 5 February 2010, Ahmed Douma remained arbitrarily detained until his recent release.

23 Feb 2010

Egypt: Ahmed Douma remains in custody despite completing prison sentence

The Egyptian authorities continue to arbitrarily detain Ahmad Douma despite having completed his prison sentence. Following his return to Egypt from the Gaza Strip at the end of Israel's offensive against Gaza, Egypt's Military Court sentenced Ahmed Douma, an Egyptian citizen, to one year's imprisonment on 10 February 2009 on charges of illegally entering of Gaza.

18 Feb 2010