Mahmoud Saleh Mohammed Ali, a 22-year-old student abducted by the security forces on 7 June 2015

Mahmoud was arrested on 7 June 2015 on his way to the University of Cairo, where he studies at the Faculty of Arts. Unaware of his arrest, Mahmoud's parents were surprised to open the door to several Security Forces' officers in civilian clothes, who forced themselves into their apartment at around 5pm the same day and searched it without showing an arrest warrant or accepting to answer their inquiries about their sons' whereabouts. Left without news from him for nine days, his family sent a telegram to the Public Prosecutor of Cairo that remained unanswered. On 23 June, his mother was unofficially told that Mahmoud had been seen inside Tora prison – a mega-complex made of six different prisons in Cairo – but was denied the right to visit him. Although his family believes that he is still detained in Tora prison, they have had no news of him since his arrest.

Hassan Saleh Ahmed Mohammed, a 39-year-old English teacher abducted by the police forces on 5 July 2015

On 5 July 2015, at night, police forces raided Hassan's building in Al Baeirat village, eventually breaking the door leading to his apartment. They arrested him immediately without showing a warrant or explaining the reasons for their presence, confiscated his computer, cell phone and various other items, and took him outside where they forced him into a car that left for an undisclosed location.

Particularly concerned, his relatives sent telegrams to the Public Prosecutor of Luxor on 6 July and another one two days later to the General Prosecutor of Luxor Governorate, to no avail. His lawyer, however, learned that Hassan had been indicted by the authorities under accusations – refuted by the family – of "joining a terrorist group, attempt to overthrow the government and suspending the Constitution," and that he was wanted by the authorities. Despite this information, the authorities continue to deny his detention and never answered his family's inquiries.

Both families are worried over the two men's fates, particularly since torture in detention is widespread in Egypt – as documented by Alkarama in numerous cases such as on 17 February 2015, 24 March 2015, 2 April 2015, including cases of women and children and is used as a tool to stifle the opposition. Since Hassan Mohammed was formally indicted by the authorities, he is also at great risk of being ill-treated to force him to confess crimes he has not committed, as documented by Alkarama in several cases such as the case of six men executed for crimes that they could not have committed since the crimes occurred after their arrests.

"The practice of enforced disappearances and torture in secret detention can amount to crimes against humanity when they are perpetrated on a widespread and systematic scale according to the Rome Statute," stressed Rachid Mesli, Alkarama's Legal Director. "According to Alkarama's figures, at least 1,189 individuals have been abducted by governmental forces since the beginning of 2015, confirming a worrying escalation of this practice in the country and substantiating the fact that the Egyptian authorities are currently perpetrating international crimes."

Local remedies being ineffective, Mahmoud Ali and Hassan Mohammed's respective families solicited Alkarama, which sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) to ask the Egyptian authorities to immediately release the two men or, at the very least, to put them under the protection of the law. The Egyptian authorities should comply with their international obligations and with its own Constitution by putting an end to the generalised practice of enforced disappearances and bringing the perpetrators to justice. In its appeal, Alkarama also reiterated its call to the WGEID to send a request to Egypt for a country visit in order to assess the situation on the ground.

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