In the afternoon of 10 July 2015, members of the Homeland Security raided Mosab's family home in Tanta where he was staying, breaking the door down before starting to beat him while threatening and insulting his relatives. At the same time, other officers were collecting computers, phones and an Ipad tablet - items used by Mosab for his work - and destroying every other object within reach. Then, after ordering his family to stay put, they handcuffed and blindfolded Mosab before forcing him out of the flat and taking him to an unknown location.

Particularly worried over his fate, especially after having witnessed and experienced the violence of his arrest, his family sent telegrams to the Public Prosecutor, the Ministry of Interior and the General Prosecutor of Tanta on 11 July 2015 but they all remained unanswered. Still without news over a month later, his wife filed a complaint before the Public Prosecution's office on 15 August 2015, again to no avail. They also spread the news about his disappearance in the media, without further success.

Mosab is amongst the numerous journalists victims of the authorities' crackdown on the free press since the July 2013 military coup, such as the case of nine journalists who were sentenced to life in prison on 11 April 2015 for "implying that the Security Forces violated human rights" during the Rabaa massacre. In fact, it has become more and more difficult for journalists to exercise their work freely and many foreign journalists have fled the country, fearing that they would otherwise be arrested by the authorities. The new anti-terrorism law, enacted on 16 August 2015, which provides for specific sentences for journalists reporting information contradicting official statements on terrorist attacks is the latest example of the authorities' will to control the press, in complete violation of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) on freedom of expression, binding on Egypt by virtue of its ratification in 1982.

Particularly concerned over Mosab's life, since he is at high risk of torture during his secret detention by the Homeland Security - despite the statement, on 2 September 2015, of the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, Major General Abu Bakr Abdel Karim, that "torture is not a word that exists in the dictionary of Egyptian prisons" -, and having exhausted all local remedies, Mosab's family turned to Alkarama to bring his case to the UN. In view of the facts, Alkarama sent urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) to ask the Egyptian authorities to release him immediately.

The Egyptian authorities must put an end to the widespread practice of enforced disappearances across the country and create effective remedies for victims and their families. They should also release all journalists unlawfully detained, and guarantee that all citizens are able to freely exercise their right to freedom of expression.

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