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Alkarama has received news of two separate new waves of arrests in Daqahliyah governorate. These arrests occur in the context of hundreds of arrests over the past few months which mainly target members and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Relatives of "Zeitoun cell" arrested in Kom al-Darby

In the early morning hours of 23 February 2009, the al-Mahfili family home was raided by Political Security forces wearing balaclavas and armed with automatic machine guns. Shots flew off as the security forces burst through their porch door and arrested Ahmad al-Mahfili, despite the fact that they were actually looking for his brother, who was not present.

At the time of his arrest, agents threatened Ahmad's parents, as well as his sister.

Alkarama has submitted the case of Mr Youssef Hamdane Awad (Abu Zahri) to the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions and the Special Rapporteur on Torture. Mr Youssef Abu Zahri, the brother of Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahri, was arrested by Egyptian State Security Intelligence (SSI) on 28 April 2008, detained for 7 months in various Egyptian jails and regularly tortured by the SSI. He died on 10 October 2009.

Updates on the events leading to his death

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On 13 October 2009, Haitham al-Maleh was summoned by Syrian Political Security in Damascus for an inquiry and has since vanished. At 12:00, when friends tried to contact him, his phone was off. Mr.
Alkarama has submitted the case of two Lebanese who were disappeared from Saudia Arabia. Mohamad Hamoud and Bilal Abu Haikal were disappeared on separate occasions; the former in 2006 at Jeddah airport and the latter in 2009 at Riyadh airport.

On his way back home to Tripoli from the Omra pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, Mohamed Bassam Ismail Hamoud, a 50 year old independent businessman, was arrested by Saudi Intelligence services at Jeddah airport on 22 October 2006.

On 28 January 2007, Alaa Ghazzaoui and Ahmed Rachid were returning to Lebanon from their pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca. While driving in a car with their friend Moheib al-Rachid, they were stopped by Saudi Intelligence services at a checkpoint near the Tabuk border crossing. According to sources, authorities presented a warrant for Moheib al-Rachid's arrest - however, they also took Mr. Ghazzaoui and Mr. Rachid into custody without presenting any legal document.
Youssef Hamdan Abu Zahri, brother of senior Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahri, died on Tuesday in Burg al-Arab prison after sustaining critical injuries caused by torture at the hands of State Security Investigative (SSI) Forces at their Headquarters in Alexandria.

Youssef Zahri, a Palestinian national, was arrest in April 2008 in Al-Arish, near Egypt's border with Gaza, and accused of illegally entering the country through an underground tunnel.

At dawn on 8 May 2001 Hisham Mahmoud Diab, 51, a dual citizen of Dutch and Egyptian nationalitiy was arrested by State Security forces at his home in Heliopolis, Cairo. He was then tried and sentenced by a Military Court, despite being a civilian, to three years imprisonment.
As he was leaving his mother-in-law's home after lunch on 19 May 2008 Hisham al-Tabakh heard gunshots nearby... He quickly ran to where he thought shots were fired and saw two policemen harassing an 80 year old man. Mr. al-Tabakh approached the officers and tried to reason with them, but instead they dropped the old man and attacked Mr. al-Tabakh.
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