Egypt: Two Minors Disappeared in January 2016
On 12 and 31 January 2016, the police respectively arrested 15-year-old Asser Mohammed Zahr Aldeen Abdelwarth and 18-year-old Abdelrahman Mohammed Saleh Mohammed at their home, in Giza and Cairo. In spite of their numerous efforts to locate them, their respective families have not heard from them since and fear that they could be tortured during their secret detention. With a view to contributing to end their ordeals, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) to ask the Egyptian authorities to disclose their places of detention and to authorise their families and lawyers to visit them immediately.
Asser's arrest and disappearance
On 12 January 2016, while Asser's family was sleeping, the police accompanied by members of the Security Forces raided their house. Looking for Asser, they went to his room and took him out of bed. Asked why they were arresting him, the police officers replied that they only wanted to interrogate him and that he should be released shortly thereafter. Then, they asked Asser to give them his national ID card but the young boy told them that he did not have one.
They reiterated the question and started to search his room thoroughly, in vain. Eventually, they confiscated his mobile phone and his Handball license before handcuffing him and leaving for an unknown location. Unaware of his place of detention, his family sent a telegram to the General Prosecutor of Egypt on 12 January but never received an answer. As to the various police officers that they met, all said Asser was not in their registers.
Abdelrahman's arrest and disappearance
Less than three weeks later, it was Abdelrahman's family's turn to be awakened in the middle of the night. On 31 January 2016, at around 3am, the police accompanied by members of the General Investigations Department raided the 18-year-old's house, threatening his relatives with weapons as they made their way through every room of the apartment and shattering objects. After confiscating some of the teenager's belongings, they took him for an undisclosed location. Fearing for his life, his family sent telegrams on 31 January and 4 February 2016 to the Ministry of Interior and to the General Prosecutor to inquire about his arrest but they did not receive answers.
Having not heard from any of their two sons and brothers since their respective arrests, their relatives are particularly worried over their respective fates, in particular because Egypt's police and security forces are notorious for torturing and ill-treating detainees, including minors such as 16-year-old Seif Al Islam Shousha, who was ill-treated in detention before being sentenced to three-years in prison by a military court in August 2015.
"The practice of enforced disappearances in Egypt remain generalised and is more and more used to stifle anyone who would allegedly oppose the authorities, even youths such as Asser and Abdelrahman," states Rachid Mesli, Legal Director at Alkarama. "When coupled with a systematic practice of torture and ill-treatment, these secret detentions have huge impacts on the mental and physical health of the victims and can completely destroy an individual. It is essential that the authorities take effective measures to end this gross practice."
Hence, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the WGEID, requesting this UN human rights mechanism to ask the Egyptian authorities to immediately disclose Asser's current place of detention and to authorise his family and lawyer to visit him. The authorities should take effective measures to end this practice by criminalising it, prosecuting authors and granting compensation and support to the victims.
For more information or an interview, please contact the media team at media@alkarama.org (Dir: +41 22 734 1008).