Egypt: Authorities Keep Denying Lawyer and School Owner's Disappearance Over 2 Years Ago Despite Contradictory Testimonies

A 48-year-old lawyer and member of liberal political party Al Dostour, Raafat Faisal Ali Shehata − also known as Ahsraf Shehata − disappeared in the hands of the Egyptian Homeland Security more than two years ago, on 13 January 2014. While the authorities continue to deny his detention claiming that Ashraf left Egypt, his wife was told by several former detainees or families of detainees that he was effectively detained. She even thought she had found him when the Ministry of Interior recently listed him as serving a five-year prison sentence in Zagzagig prison, but the information was soon denied by the same Ministry, which kept on claiming they did not know anything about the victim. In last resort, Ashraf's relatives contacted Alkarama, hoping its work with the United Nations human rights protection mechanisms might help shed light on Ashraf's disappearance.

The facts

On the day of his disappearance, Ashraf told his wife that he would drop by the Homeland Security headquarters on his way back from work − in the school he owns in Kerdasa, a village in Giza in the outskirts of Cairo − as he had received a call from them saying that they wanted to interrogate him, although without mentioning the reason. After receiving another phone call, he left his school and was never seen again. Particularly worried over his fate, his wife went to the Kerdasa Police Department to inquire about his disappearance and filed a complaint on 14 January 2014, but it did not lead to any investigations. Her complaint before Kerdasa's Public Prosecution in November 2014 was not successful either.

Continuous denial and contradictory statements

In fact, the authorities have continuously denied Ashraf's detention, claiming that he had left Egypt, even though his wife received information from former detainees and families of detainees according to which he was effectively detained. The last time she heard of him was on 3 December 2015, when a former detainee told her that Ashraf was currently detained in Azouli military prison, in Ismailia – a city located on the shores of Timsah Lake, 113km North-East of Cairo. However, she was not able to confirm this information.

Then, on 18 January 2016, the Ministry of Interior issued the names and places of detention of 99 detainees, at the request of the National Human Rights Council (NCHR) – a semi-independent body in charge of promoting and protecting human rights in the country – the Ministry of Interior listed him as serving a five-year sentence in Zagazig prison. The Ministry however denied this information claiming that the "Ashraf Shehata" mentioned in the list was a different person and that they did not know anything about the victim in question.

Alkarama's action

Left without any recourse at the national level, Ashraf's relatives contacted Alkarama, who sent a communication to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), asking this United Nations human rights protection mechanism to request the Egyptian authorities to disclose his place of detention and authorise his family and lawyer to visit him.

"It is extremely hard for relatives to be told by detainees that their husband, father or son has been seen in detention while the authorities systematically deny it, more than two years after the person has disappeared," said Rachid Mesli, Alkarama Legal Director. "While Alkarama had until now mostly documented cases of short-term disappearances, Ashraf's case shows that this phenomenon is now completely generalised and that the authorities use it as either a tool to cover other crimes they might have committed – torture particularly – or to repress any kind of opposition, including individuals from secular groups, and this with complete impunity."

In view of the facts, and in particular the generalisation of a practice that does not seem to follow any logic anymore as cases of enforced disappearances have becone more and more random, Alkarama calls upon the Egyptian authorities to take effective measures to end the practice of enforced disappearances, including to:

• Open investigation in every report of disappearance made by the victims' relatives,
• Compensate all individuals who have been secretly detained, and
• Prosecute the authors and instigators of such disappearances, as well as to
• Ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances (ICCPED).

For more information or an interview, please contact the media team at media@alkarama.org (Dir: +41 22 734 1008)