Egypt: Human rights lawyer ‘forcibly disappeared’
Egyptian human rights lawyer Osama Bayoumi has been “forcibly disappeared” since his detention four days ago in Cairo, a rights group told Middle East Eye on Tuesday.
Bayoumi has been “arbitrarily detained” and has not been presented to any investigative authorities since his arrest in a dawn raid on his home on Saturday, Ahmed Attar, executive director of the London-based Egyptian Network for Human Rights (ENHR), said.
Bayoumi, a prominent rights lawyer and member of the Lawyers Syndicate, is handling a number of high-profile cases, many of them involving political prisoners.
According to Attar, Egyptian security forces stormed Bayoumi’s home at 1am in the capital, without presenting an arrest warrant. They confiscated his work laptop, mobile phone and some cash.
“His work computer has confidential information about his cases and his clients,” Attar said.
“Mr Bayoumi has a known address and office in Cairo. Authorities who need to obtain any information from him could have easily reached him without the need for unlawful detention,” Attar added.
According to Egyptian law, detainees must appear before an investigative body within a maximum of 24 hours after arrest.
Egyptian and international rights groups have documented hundreds of cases of enforced disappearance since President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi led his military coup against his democratically-elected predecessor Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
Many real or perceived critics of Sisi, including lawyers and journalists, go missing after their detention for days, months or sometimes years. During that time, the detainees are usually tortured, mistreated or forced to make confessions to crimes they did not commit.
“The ENHR condemns the repressive practices of the Egyptian security authorities, including storming citizens' homes at dawn, intimidating children, women and the elderly, and seizing money and private property without obtaining permission from the competent prosecution,” it said in a statement.
The organisation called on the head of the Lawyers Syndicate, Ragai Attia, and the public prosecutor to “intervene immediately” to reveal the whereabouts of Bayoumi and “to open an investigation to hold accountable those involved in the crime of storming his house at dawn and his arbitrary arrest, and the illegal use of the powers of their public office to abuse citizens”.
The Front for Defending the Independence of Lawyers, an advocacy movement, said on Monday that at least 50 lawyers are being held in pre-trial detention in Egypt.
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