Articles for Egypt

Abdel Rahman Al-Sharkawy, a 29 year old dual-citizen Egyptian-Pakistani, had been living with his family in Pakistan since 1989.

Ahmed Rajab Abdelradi, a 23 year old chemist from Aswan, was arrested on 12 November 2009, and was later severely tortured while in the custody of the Investigative Branch of the Aswan Police Department. He was taken from his home by State Security Intelligence (SSI) officers supported by officers of the Investigative Branch of the Aswan Police Department. He was accused of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The State of Emergency law is often used by the Egyptian security services as a pretext for arbitrary arrests of dissident groups or those believed to be members of such groups. In such cases, the victims are detained without legal justification and held for long periods of time without trials based on the assumption that they are a threat to national security. Within the prison themselves, many of these political prisoners are exposed to ill-treatment, humiliation and torture, especially those who require medical care are often denied this basic privilege and in some cases die.

On Thursday 26 November 2009, Dr Mohamed Gamal Heshmat (الدكتور محمد جمال حشمت), Muslim Brotherhood leader and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood Shura Council, was released after two months of arbitrary detention in Burg al-Arab prison.

At 1am on 20 November 2009, Security services released Dr Ashraf Abdel Ghaffar along with Khaled al-Sayed al-Beltagy and Ahmad Ali Abbas. Their release brings to a close the case of the "International Organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood" following the release of all 25 members of this group.

Alkarama submitted to the UN special procedures the cases of the extrajudicial killings of Farouk Mohamed Mahmoud Al-Sayed (فاروق محمد محمود السيد) and Hassan Abdel Razak Shandi (حمسن عبد الرزاق شندي ). The Egyptian authorities are held responsible.

Alkarama has received news from inside Egypt of the release of several members of Muslim Brotherhood, some of whose cases Alkarama had previously submitted to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD).

The Egyptian Military Court of Appeals today rejected the appeal lodged by Mr. Khairat Al Shatter and 17 other leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood against sentences ranging from 3 to 10 years issued against them by Egypt's Supreme Military Court on 15 April 2008.

In a message released on 23 October 2009, the 22 detainees accused of belonging to the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah asserted that "state security intelligence has detained and tortured us in different ways ranging from the use of electricity on all parts of our bodies, to forcing us to stand all night, to threatening to bring our mothers, children and brothers and subject them to torture while forcing us to listen." Arrested between December 2008 and April 2009, the detainees were taken to Egyptian State Security Intelligence (SSI) headquarters in Nasr Cit

On Wednesday 4 November 2009, two university students were summoned by the police on fabricated charges. They were known at the university for their political activism in favor of the Egyptian opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood. The two students were taken to al-Mansoura police station on 5 November 2009, but a court ordered their release on 7 November 2009.