Today, 28 August 2009, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the Special Rapporteur on Torture urging him to intervene with the Egyptian authorities in order to impede probable cases torture stemming from recent arrests in Al-Bahira.

Alkarama learned that 15 people were arrested at dawn on 20 August 2009. Members of the security services in Al-Buheiri accompanied by Special Forces belonging to the Central Police, forced their way into the homes of these men and arrested them. They are all currently being held in two of the security services' detention centers in Al-Buheiri.

Alkarama has just received information from a reliable source that 33 people have been arrested in the governorate of Suez.

Alkarama has sent an urgent appeal today to the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances asking it to intercede with the Egyptian authorities in the case of 16 Egyptian nationals who disappeared in Mansoura province between 2 and 26 July 2009, after being arrested by the Egyptian State Security Intelligence (SSI). These individuals were part of a larger group of 29 Egyptians national who also disappeared under similar circumstances on 2 July 2009.