Egypt’s security services behind disappearance and torture of hundreds, Amnesty Int’l
Egyptian security services are behind the disappearance of hundreds of people in the country over the past year, Amnesty International says.
According to rights group, students, political activists and protesters, some as young as 14 years, have vanished without a trace. It attributes this to an effort by the security services to tackle dissent.
Many people are alleged to have been held for months and often kept blindfolded and handcuffed the entire period.
The Egyptian government has however denied that it uses enforced disappearances and torture.
Interior Minister Magdy Abdul Ghaffar has insisted the security services operate within a framework established by Egyptian law.
Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa director, Philip Luther, said enforced disappearances had become a “key instrument of state policy” under Mr Sisi and Mr Abdul Ghaffar, who took office in March 2015.
