A Year Has Passed on His Forced Disappearance

The Association For Human Rights Legal Aid, AHRLA, and the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, ANHRI, filed, today, the communiqué #14426 to the Public Prosecutor demanding an immediate inquiry into the disappearance of the student Mohamed Said Abdo Turk , a dentistry sophomore. Both organizations have received a complaint on 14/7/2010 from the student’s father stating that his son disappeared on 26/7/2009 and that he informally learnt that his son is detained in SSI department in Damanhur, Beheira.

On 6/7/2009 evening ,Mohamed Turk went for a walk by the Nile in Rashid( Rosetta). The city was crawling with security preparing for the forthcoming presidential visit on 30/7/20909. Mohamed never came back home. His father addressed all possible state departments , he made an inquiry at SSI and sent faxes to the president, the interior minister and the public prosecutor to which he received no answer. On 14/7/2010, he submitted a complaint to AHRLA and ANHRI.

The two organizations said that there are strong indications that the student is being held at SSI headquarters, as Turk was called in by SSI ,in April 2009, three months before his disappearance, on the background of his activities in support of the Palestinian people. Some non-official sources mentioned that the young man is at Damanhur State Security. We are deeply worried that this case would turn to be one of the many crime cases of forced absence committed by the Egyptian interior ministry. It is a common practice of SSI to arrest and detain citizens without giving reasons for their detention and without any charges filed against them, or even notifying their families which is a violation of the articles of the Egyptian Constitution, the penal code ,criminal procedures’ law and all international treaties and conventions signed by Egypt in which the legislature criminalized the arrest or detention of any person without an order from the competent authorities.

Both organizations demand the public prosecutor to open an official investigation in the disappearance of Turk and holding the perpetuators accountable. They also demanded SSI to reveal calling Turk in three months before his disappearance. Asserting that the ministry of interior is the body responsible for safety and security of citizens, AHRLA and ANHRI urge the public prosecutor to take all possible legal measures to reveal the destiny of this youngman. Forced disappearance crime is naturally a severe violation of human rights that must be addressed and the criminals must be punished.

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