An activist group calling for the release of political detainees has raised alarm among citizens, announcing an unprecedented surge in mysterious arrests and disappearances of young activists, urging families to promptly report such arrests to the prosecution services.
Freedom to the Brave urged citizens to send telegrams to the General Prosecution as soon as any of their relatives are arrested by “plain-clothed persons who decline to identify themselves, but seem to be from the National Security Agency or detectives”.
The group, established after the arrests which took place during the 2014 celebrations marking the 2011 uprising, said the measure is aimed at registering the timing of the “forced disappearance” committed by the security agencies, and therefore ensure that the detainees are not tortured or assigned fabricated charges.
The group’s Facebook page mentions a number of cases of individuals who reportedly disappeared after being arrested by presumed security agents.
The cases include Ahmed Khattab, an engineering student at Helwan University and a member of the April 6 Youth Movement, who had reportedly been arrested in the street at dawn three days ago. The group was quoting a statement by the university’s students union, which said Khattab’s whereabouts were still unknown.
Another case is that of Dalia Radwan, who the group said had been kidnapped from home late on Monday and held without charges. It pointed out that Radwan had been punched by a police officer in Alexandria last year, for putting on a pin showing the April 6 Youth Movement logo.
Abdel Rahman al-Beyaly, a physiotherapy student at the 6th of October University, was also arrested in a street near his home in Maadi, according to Freedom to the Brave. The group added that some eyewitnesses tried to intervene to prevent his arrest, but his captors fired gunshots in the air to scare the crowds away, telling them they were “security”.
The Bedaia news website quoted eyewitnesses and kidnapped victims' families as saying that a campaign of kidnappings had targeted young activists over the past weeks, with many of the arrested belonging to the April 6 Youth Movement.
The website counted 11 cases of mysterious forced disappearance of activists, only two of whom had been documented in complaints to the General Prosecution.
The reported kidnappings come a week ahead a general strike called for by the April 6 movement, one of the most vocal activist groups against consecutive Egyptian governments since its establishment in 2008.
