(Photo from The Freedom to the Brave)
The Freedom to the Brave campaign has compiled a report on cases of forced disappearance and detention without investigation since April.
In the report, they documented 132 cases, with an additional 31 cases reported but with no documentation, to reach a total of 163 cases in almost two months.
The report cited 66 cases of ongoing forced disappearances, where the whereabouts of those subject to disappearance remains unknown. The campaign’s report also documented 64 “finished” cases, with the detainees’ whereabouts eventually confirmed.
Reports from relatives of the disappeared are usually followed by a wide search in police stations, where officials deny having them in custody.
Freedom to the Brave member Khaled Abdel Hamid told Daily News Egypt there are cases of detainees released on bail from detention, while there are other cases where the detainees were found in police stations but remain there.
The report mentioned forced disappearance cases that ended with deaths of the disappeared, namely Islam Ateeto and Sabry Al-Ghoul.
Ateeto, an Ain Shams engineering student, was found dead on 20 May, a day after his disappearance, while Al-Ghoul, a Sinai-based activist, died on 2 June after being detained for several hours by the military.
Cairo came out as the governorate with the most cases with 60, followed by 31 cases for Kafr El-Sheikh and 16 in Giza. Only the governorates of Suez, Matruh, Red Sea, New Valley and South Sinai did not witness forced disappearance cases, according to the report.
May saw 87 cases, with the third week being the busiest of the month with 41 cases reported. The third and fourth of April ranked second and third with 33 and 22 cases reported respectively.
The recent cases of forced disappearance in the past two weeks were reportedly linked to rising mobilisation in the streets. Calls for a general strike on 11 June were made by the 6 April Youth Movement, but Abdel Hameed believes that “no one has an explanation”.
