After 2-yr forced disappearance with her child, rights orgs call for release of Manar Aboul Naga

Several human rights organizations called on Monday for the release of Manar Aboul Naga and her husband, both of whom were forcibly disappeared for two years with their infant child before the mother and child appeared before the prosecution in February.

According to the Monday statement, after Aboul Naga and her child, who were arrested in early 2019, appeared for the first time before the State Security Prosecution in February. Her child was released to her family, while Aboul Naga was moved to the Qanater Prison.  

The organizations called for the prompt release of Aboul Naga to allow her to rejoin her now three-year-old son in a safe family environment and to allow both of them to access the necessary therapy and rehabilitation services after the “severe shock that their two-year disappearance has doubtless caused.”

They also called for the whereabouts of her husband, Omar Aboul Naga, to be revealed, holding the Interior Ministry responsible for their safety.

Aboul Naga, who worked as a mathematics teacher in Tanta University, her husband, Omar Abdel Hamid, and her child, Baraa, were arrested from their home in Alexandria in March 2019.

Their whereabouts remained unknown until Aboul Naga appeared at State Security Prosecution on February 20 and was ordered held in remand detention for 15 days on charges of joining and funding a terrorist group. 

The case was met with shock on social media and in local media due to the fact that an infant had spent two years forcibly disappeared. 

Many defendants detained pending investigation into terrorism charges spend long periods in remand detention. Court orders for their release are frequently bypassed by adding the defendants to new cases before release orders can be carried out.

Though Aboul Naga, her husband and child were disappeared in March 2019, the prosecution report states that Aboul Naga was arrested on February 17, 2021, according to the Monday statement.

Baraa, who has spent 23 months in detention with his mother, is no longer allowed to stay with Aboul Naga due to a legal provision that prohibits children over two years of age from residing with their parents in detention facilities.

While Aboul Naga was moved to Qanater Prison, Baraa was released into the custody of his aunt. According to people who were present during the State Security Prosecution session who are cited in the Monday statement, the child panicked after being separated from his mother and shouted that he wished to return to the “room.” 

Aboul Naga’s sister, who has taken custody of the child, took to social media to criticize the continued detention of her sister. “Should we celebrate the return of the child or mourn the fact he’s been forcibly disappeared for two years?” She added that Baraa had suffered “psychological damage” due to two years in detention.

Forced disappearances are frequent in Egypt, with arrests often followed by the elapse of days, weeks or months before a detainee is brought before the prosecution or their friends and family are informed of their whereabouts. A 2020 report by the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms on forced disappearances documented 2,723 incidents of forced disappearance since August 2015. 

Monday’s call for the release of Manar and Omar Aboul Naga was signed by the Al-Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, the Egyptian Front for Human Rights, the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, the Committee for Justice, the Freedom Initiative, the Egyptian Center for Human Rights Studies and the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms.