On 23 October 2013, the Egyptian Security Forces raided Youssef Zariea Salmi's house, where he was living with his entire family, allegedly looking for one of his sons who was absent. In reprisal they arrested two of his other sons, Ammar and Mohamed Youssef Zariea and forcibly brought them to Zuhur Security Forces camp, in Sheikh Zuid district. Worried over their fates, especially of Ammar's who suffers from a mental disability, their father decided to go to the security forces camp where he was arrested and detained with them.

A week later, on 2 November 2013, he was taken away for an unknown location and has not reappeared since. While his son Ammar, was released, Mohamed was sentenced to five years imprisonment at the end of an unfair trial under charges of spying on the security forces.

Approximately one year after their arrests, the family house was demolished by the army without any reason, like hundreds of other houses in the region. Furthermore, mentally disabled Ammar was re-arrested on 4 November 2014 and brought back, without any legal procedure, to Zuhur camp. He was ultimately found dead on 14 November 2014 in Sheikh Zuid disctrict with bullets in the head and chest and several marks on his body that seemed to result from acts of torture.

The story of the Zariea's family is one amongst many in the North Sinai that have been brought to Alkarama's attention. "The authorities, under the pretext of the fight against terrorism have recourse to arbitrary measures without any judicial supervision, which often lead to summary executions and disappearances, as in the cases of Youssef and Ammar," explained Rachid Mesli, Alkarama Legal Director. "If Alkarama reiterates the need to fight against terrorism, it recalls that this has to be done in respect of human rights and particularly of the right to life and the right to freedom from torture, which are inderogable rights," he added.

Consequently, Alkarama has sent these two cases to the WGEID and SUMX to ask the Egyptian authorities to disclose Youssef Zariea Salmi's current place of detention and to put him under the protection of the law. The authorities should also duly investigate the killing by the security forces of Ammar Youssef Zariea and bring those responsible to justice.

For more information or an interview, please contact the media team at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Dir: +41 22 734 1007 Ext: 810)