The State Security Prosecution renewed Monday the detention of Egyptian student Islam Hamzay for 15 days, after he was accused of recruiting young men to travel and fight among the troops of the militant group Al-Nusra Front in Syria.
The prosecution’s evidence against Hamzay is a report from the National Security Apparatus charging him with joining a technical school to spread “jihadist ideologies” and to recruit young men to travel to Syria through Turkey, his brother said.
The investigations also argued that Hamzay used the internet to interact with high profile militants in Syria to assist in the process of recruiting and travelling.
“He was detained for 70 days without his family or his lawyer knowing anything about him. He spent all of this time without any legal representation,” his brother added.
Hamzay joined as a student in the Nasser Technical School in Giza, after he was expelled from Al-Azhar University. His family has accused the Ministry of Interior of “kidnapping” him and investigating him without any legal reference.
Since the Rabaa Al-Adaweya sit-in dispersal in August 2013, during and after which many were reported missing and detained without formal charges, the number of enforced disappearances has increased. Families of those detained continue to petition for information regarding the whereabouts of their relatives.
The Ministry of Interior usually replies to the accusations by arguing that the mentioned individuals were wanted by the prosecution and hence arrested.
Cases of enforced disappearance have branched out from occurring only during protests and demonstrations, as recent cases have described being arrested on the street, at work, in public spaces, or from their homes.
