In a simple countryside house in Assiut, Matta Hakim sits on the pavement thinking about his three sons, whom he had not heard from for the last six months. His brother Sedqy is in a similar situation, as he lost his son Adel, kidnapped along with his cousins.
On 25 August, Matta received a phone call informing him about the abduction of his three sons and a nephew in the Libyan city of Sirte, while they were on their way back to Egypt.
The four young men had a dream to prepare for their future, so they decided to travel to Libya seeking jobs. Wageeh Matta, their brother, said “They traveled to earn a living. If there had been jobs in the country, they wouldn’t have left. The four of them traveled in June. A few months later, they decided to return home due to the unstable security situation."
Nagwa Kamel, wife of the abducted Romany, was the last one to communicate with them on Facebook, when Romany told her that he was in the car coming back and that the signal was bad. He also told her that he was not willing to sacrifice his life as there was fighting everywhere.
Neither Romany nor the other three knew that the way back to Egypt would have a tragic ending. When the four of them got into the car along with three other Egyptians, who were also going back home, they were stopped by an armed group that requested their IDs. The four of them were taken, “as they were Copts,” according to Hamada al-Sayyed, one of the three other passengers.
Six months have passed since August, as the family travels between Assiut and Cairo looking for their sons. They even went to the Cabinet and the Foreign Ministry, where officials told them to be patient and stay silent.
“In the beginning, we feared informing people about what had happened. We were told to stay away from the media, as they might mislead us,” according to Sedqy. “If they died, we should know about it. If they are still alive, the president should get them back to us. We are not asking for anything more,” he adds.
The beheading of 21 Egyptians by the Islamic State frightened the Hakim family. “When we saw the video of those Minya killed while walking by the sea, we organized vigils as if they were our sons,” says Wageeh.
Everyone in the house is sad. The children never stop asking their grandfather and uncle about their fathers.
The only glimpse of hope for the family is that they hadn’t been notified yet about the death of their sons. They still call on the government to get them back.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
