Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS) said on Tuesday that Parliamentary Affairs Minister Omar Marwan held a press conference in the Foreign Correspondents’ Club during which he asserted that many reports of so-called enforced disappearances were proved to be “fake”.
He added that it is necessary for people or organizations that find alleged cases of this kind to notify authorities and await for the results of investigations.
He highlighted that there are no cases of enforced disappearances in Egypt.
He noted that many cases that were described as enforced disappearances appeared later to be “fake” such as the the case involving a girl named Zubaida mentioned in a recent BBC report, as well as the case of a member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group who later appeared in an Islamic State video as a militant.
On reports of torture practiced by authorities against citizens, he further explained that there have only been isolated cases of this sort.
“About 72 policemen were charged with practicing torture and mistreating defendants over the past four years,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, head of SIS Diaa Rashwan, who participated at the conference, said that many reports released by foreign media outlets exaggerate issues of torture and alleged enforced disappearances. He stressed that despite these exaggerations, Egypt has not taken any legal or other actions against foreign correspondents based in the country.
A host of international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have accused Egypt of practicing torture and carrying out enforced disappearances. Egyptian officials have repeatedly denied all such accusations.
