As Egyptian Activists Vanish, Suspicion Falls On The Security Forces
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Activists in Egypt say there's been an increase in forced disappearances and they blame security forces. The government has already jailed thousands of political opponents, but their locations are usually known. NPR's Leila Fadel reports that now many families are looking for any trace of their loved ones.
LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: It happened suddenly. One day, without warning, a loved one goes out to run an errand or go to class and they don't come home.
DUAA EL-TAWEEL: (Foreign language spoken).
FADEL: Duaa el-Taweel is 22. When she speaks, she takes deep, ragged breaths and her eyes flutter open and closed.
EL-TAWEEL: (Foreign language spoken).
FADEL: Her sister went missing on June 1, and today, nearly two weeks later, she hasn't heard from her.
EL-TAWEEL: (Foreign language spoken).
FADEL: El-Taweel first checked everywhere, including hospitals. Then she started being told about sightings of her sister in different detention facilities
EL-TAWEEL: (Foreign language spoken).
FADEL: But when el-Taweel goes with lawyers to police stations, they're always told Esraa, her sister, is not there The family knows she left the house with two male friends. One showed up three days ago in a maximum security prison. The other is still missing.
EL-TAWEEL: (Foreign language spoken).
FADEL: El-Taweel says we don't know what to do or who to call. Her missing sister, Esraa, is just 23, a student and photographer. By law in Egypt, arrests are supposed to be done with warrants and detainees are supposed to go to the prosecutor within 24 hours. But Esraa el-Taweel is one of many people who are simply vanishing. A Facebook page called Freedom of the Brave, maintained by activists, list 163 people that have gone missing in Egypt since April. Esraa el-Taweel's father resorted to calling into a popular local television show to ask about his daughter.
(SOUNDBITE OF UNIDENTIFIED TV SHOW)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Foreign language spoken).
FADEL: The presenter got a ranking official at the ministry of interior on the line.
(SOUNDBITE OF UNIDENTIFIED TV SHOW)
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: (Foreign language spoken).
FADEL: The deputy minister says when security forces take people they do it under legal procedures. He said he'd check and get back to him. NPR's calls to the ministry went unanswered. Sherif Mohy el-Deen works for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.
MOHY EL-DEEN: It's increasing day after day.
FADEL: He says forced disappearances didn't start under current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. It's a tactic that's been used for decades to stifle dissent. But in the last couple of months, it's rapidly growing, and that puzzles Mohy el-Deen, when the state has so much power to arrest people under the law.
EL-DEEN: So they could make all of this by the law and the question's why you're doing this out of law, out of your own law, out of your full-of-injustice law.
FADEL: Meanwhile, a government-backed human rights counsel has met with some of the families and promised to take the complaints to the general prosecutor. The most extreme example happened last month. A student named Islam Attito was taking a humanities exam at his university. A man in civilian clothes came into the room with a university employee. They told Attito they needed to see him after the exam. Activists say the next day he showed up dead in the desert with bullet wounds and broken bones.
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UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Foreign language spoken).
FADEL: In a video posted online, his mother cries his body is broken. His body is broken. The police said in a statement that Attito was killed after he fired on police from a hideout. They accuse him of murdering a police officer. Marwan Selim, a fellow student, is investigating the case.
MARWAN SELIM: If Islam's case passed with no actions from our side, tomorrow it's going to be a friend of mine, a close one. The day after it, it's going to be me.
FADEL: He says he and other students spoke to witnesses who saw Attito leaving the classroom with the unknown man and later saw him being chased by men with walkie-talkies. One of the fellow students looking into Islam Attito's case was briefly arrested this week. Others have received threats, but that hasn't stopped Selim. Leila Fadel, NPR News, Cairo.
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