Lawyer: Witnesses testify 2 young men killed in authorities’ custody in Matrouh

Farag Rayyash al-Fazari was laid to rest in Sidi Barrani on Sunday, three days after he and Youssef Eid al-Sarhani were killed. Witnesses said the young men were killed in the authorities’ custody, a lawyer told Mada Masr.

The two young men were taken into police custody in the wake of escalating tensions between police and locals in the coastal governorate of Matrouh throughout last week.

Lawyer Mamdouh al-Darbaly, the former head of the Lawyers Syndicate’s Matrouh branch, was present on Saturday as part of the defense when witnesses gave statement to the Public Prosecution that police were responsible for killing the two young men the day before.

The lawyer stated that the defense for the Fazari and Sarhani families, a team of around 200 lawyers, had been waiting since early morning for the prosecution to begin proceedings, during which National Security Agency officers repeatedly attempted to negotiate a customary settlement with the families and tribal leaders — a proposal that was firmly rejected.

Tension flared between residents of Negila and police last week after three police personnel were killed and another two injured in an exchange of fire as they attempted to arrest a man in the city who was wanted in connection with a court case.

Authorities subsequently launched a widespread arrest campaign, which was denounced by the council of tribal elders in Matrouh.

Darbaly said that police arrested 20 women in a bid to pressure those involved in the Wednesday clash to surrender. The detentions prompted tribal leaders in Matrouh to undertake urgent mediation efforts, leading to the release of most of the women.

However, six remained detained — all relatives of the man being searched for by authorities. Darbaly told Mada Masr that two of the women in custody were the sister and wife of the two young men who were later killed. 

Two intermediaries, one of whom is the mayor of Negila, brokered an agreement with a National Security Agency officer to hand over the two young men in exchange for the women’s release, Darbaly recounted.

The officer assured the intermediaries that the two would not be harmed, the intermediaries told the prosecution during Saturday’s investigations, according to the lawyer. The agreed handover location, which was determined by the officer, was outside any official premises in the Abu Zereiba area, around 30 kilometers east of Salloum, the intermediaries told the prosecution.

The officer also instructed them to have the young men transported in two unplated vehicles — one a pickup truck, the other a private car. “No one questioned the suspicious arrangements because all they wanted was to get the women out, by any means and as quickly as possible,” Darbaly said.

After the handover, the officer told the intermediaries to leave the two men and go collect the detained women.

A resident of the area where the handover was taking place, speaking to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity, said locals heard gunfire shortly after the handover. When they went to check, they found blood and the victims’ shoes at the scene.

An hour after the two men were handed over, the intermediaries received a phone call from a National Security Agency officer who told them that “something had happened,” without disclosing that Fazari and Sarhani had been killed, Darbaly said. When they contacted the officer who had arranged the surrender, he said: “I’ve been betrayed. This is beyond me.”

The young men’s blood ended up on the hands of the two intermediaries who facilitated the handover, Darbaly said. “That’s why the witnesses insisted on testifying before the prosecution from the outset,” he added.

Darbaly’s account aligns with the intermediaries’ own version of events, circulated in videos on Facebook explicitly naming the National Security officer involved.

During Saturday’s investigative session, the defense team requested that the prosecution obtain phone records of the calls between the intermediaries and the National Security Agency officer, according to Darbaly. The father of one of the killed men is expected to give a statement to prosecutors on Monday.

Darbaly accused the security agency of acting out of vengeance, framing the incident as a matter of "state prestige" and operating outside the bounds of law. 

Meanwhile, tribal elder Tabarak Reeza said the governorate’s residents are mourning the police officer’s deaths last week just as deeply as they mourn the two young men. “In the end, the policemen were victims too, irresponsibly thrown into destruction,” he said.

Still, Reeza noted that long-standing and recently escalating security pressure on the people of Matrouh has created a state of simmering tension that tribal elders can sense — one that, he warned, bodes nothing good.

In July 2023, a resident of Sidi Barrani was shot multiple times and killed by a police officer after refusing to comply with orders. The incident triggered clashes between residents and police. The case concluded in June 2024 with the officer acquitted of charges of “assault leading to death” on grounds of self-defense. The ruling relied on forensic testimony that contradicted an earlier report by the same medical examiner, who had initially refuted the officer’s account.

The Fazari family collected his body from the Kom al-Dikka morgue in Alexandria earlier on Sunday, hours after the prosecution in Marsa Matrouh recieved statements from witnesses. Sarhani’s family had already claimed and buried his body on Friday.