The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF) reported more than 204 enforced disappearance cases from December 2015 to March 2016.
According to the report, only 103 of those reported to have been subject to an enforced disappearance reappeared later, while the whereabouts of the remaining people are still unknown.
The ECRF report highlighted the continuation of the phenomenon of enforced disappearances, as well as the violations committed by the National Security Apparatus against individuals.
According to the report, 36 enforced disappearances were observed in December 2015, 57 in January, 79 in February, and 32 in March. The disappearances were monitored in the governorates of Cairo, Giza, Alexandria and Beni Suef.
People in their mid-20s and children recorded the highest prevalence in the total number of cases, with 79 people in their mid-20s and 21 children. The report also listed the names and ages of the people subject to enforced disappearance, whereby their ages range between 14 and 71.
Moreover, students were the most targeted demographic, with a total of 100 students having been forcibly disappeared.
The 103 individuals who later reappeared were reported to have been seen in police stations, prosecution units and courts. Of those, 12 reappeared in December, 11 in January, and 50 in February, 26 in March and four in April. The report added that the majority of the 103 people who reappeared are imprisoned and face their detentions being renewed.
In a similar context, member of the National Council of Human Rights (NCHR) Kamal Abbas said the council is still preparing its annual report on violations that occurred during 2015.
He added that the council will present the Ministry of Interior’s responses to complaints on enforced disappearances cases. He noted that council demanded that the ministry investigate 12 cases of disappeared individuals, having previously sent 272 cases to be investigated.
The family members of the disappeared individuals claim their relatives have gone missing and were suspected to have been arrested under the practice of enforced disappearance.
Two days ago, the ministry ordered the investigation of more complaints presented by the NCHR on alleged enforced disappearances.
By late March, the ministry said it examined 260 cases of alleged enforced disappearances. In November 2015, the ECRF said a total of 1,250 cases were recorded in first eight months of 2015, while the total in the first 10 months registered 1,411 cases.
Over the past year, reports of enforced disappearance in Egypt have been on the rise, although there is no exact number for the total cases of disappearances. Local rights groups said at least 1,000 people have been subject to enforced disappearance, whereas the Interior Ministry has announced only 260 of them.
