Amnesty International: Forced disappearances integral to Egyptian state policy

Hundreds of Egyptians have been forcibly disappeared since 2015, with many having been subjected to severe torture and unfair trials, according to an Amnesty International report published on Wednesday.

Based on 70 interviews with victims, families and lawyers and documenting 17 cases of forced disappearances, the report does not only expose the brutality that children and adults are forced to endure, but attributes responsibility for the disappearances to Egypt’s security forces and judicial authorities.

Amnesty states that forced disappearances began in March 2015 with the appointment of Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar, marking a return to the practices of the now defunct State Security Investigation Services under former President Hosni Mubarak and which are now being repeated under the National Security Agency that superseded it in 2011. Egyptian authorities have repeatedly denied that forced disappearances occur in Egypt.

According to the organization’s findings, victims are typically taken from their private residencies without official warrants and are then made to give false confessions while being held in undisclosed detention centers, where they are not allowed to confer with lawyers or speak with family members. The judiciary then holds trials based on these confessions, failing to challenge falsified arrest dates and ignoring victims’ appeals.

The report builds upon victims’ testimonies to establish a common methodology of torture that includes electric shock to the body, specifically targeting sensitive areas, such as the genitals, lips and ears; suspension by the limbs while handcuffed and nude for long periods of time; and abuse in the form of rape, assault and verbal threats. Some detainees relay having been subjected to the “grill,” a method of torture whereby a victim is rotated on a bar that is inserted between his bound arms and legs and that is balanced between two chairs. The same methods were documented under Mubarak, according to the report.

“This report reveals the shocking and ruthless tactics that the Egyptian authorities are prepared to employ in their efforts to terrify protesters and dissidents into silence,” said Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International Philip Luther in the press release accompanying the report.

“Enforced disappearance has become a key instrument of state policy in Egypt. Anyone who dares to speak out is at risk, with counter-terrorism being used as an excuse to abduct, interrogate and torture people who challenge the authorities,” he continues.

Forced disappearance have become more prominent against the backdrop of an unprecedented crackdown on political activity and NGO work, according to the report, with the state having detained an estimated 60,000 political prisoners since July 2013, an increase that has been accompanied by the construction and planning of 10 new prisons. Amnesty states that the government has mainly targeted perceived supporters or members of the Muslim Brotherhood and political opponents of the regime. While the report acknowledges that it is difficult to ascertain the exact scope of the practice due to its secretive nature, it asserts that human rights organizations have documented over 1000 cases through April 2016.

Children have also been subject to state violations, with the report documenting instances where children were forcibly disappeared for as long as 50 days. Specific mention is given to the case of 14-year-old Mazen Abdallah, who was abducted from his house in 2015 and sexually assaulted while in detention.

Abdallah’s mother is quoted in the Amnesty report as saying that police stormed their house and arrested Abdallah, after finding text messages referring to protests on his phone. The arresting officers reassured her that Abdallah would return in mere hours before they took him away blindfolded and handcuffed. The Interior Ministry and officers at the First Nasr City Police Station, where Abdallah was being held, denied knowledge of his whereabouts.

After one week, Abdallah was referred to State Security Prosecution. The official documents stated that he had been arrested one day before the referral, without recording the week he had spent detention. Egyptian authorities did not investigate Abdallah’s detention, sexual assault or torture, despite his claim that he informed the state security prosecutor about the nature of his detention when he appeared before him in the absence of a lawyer. Abdallah told his family that he was raped and held in isolation, with officers threatening to arrest them if he did not confess. Before being released pending trial, Abdallah was held in pretrial detention for four months, in violation of Egypt’s child law, facing charges of inciting and participating in illegal protests.

Amnesty urged Sisi to acknowledge the practice of forced disappearance and put an end to it, granting detainees immediate access to lawyers, allowing family visitations and deciding to either release or refer detainees to trial. The human rights organization also advocated for the formation of an independent committee to investigate reports of forced disappearance and torture, requesting the public prosecutor’s ratification to ensure the committee’s independence from the executive branch.

The report also called on the international community to pressure Egypt to end the practice by imposing an embargo on arms trade.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry addressed the report in a post on its official Facebook page, refusing to comment on its content but stating that Amnesty “lacks impartiality and is motivated by a political stance with a special interest in tarnishing Egypt’s image.”