Arrest of lawyer Ibrahim Metwally
Egypt
L4L has grave concerns about the abduction and incommunicado detention of Mr. Ibrahim Metwally Hegazy, human rights lawyer, Co-founder and Coordinator of the Association of the Families of the Disappeared in Egypt. L4L has sent a letter to the Egyptian authorities to express concerns, and call for the release of Ibrahim Metwally.
On 10 September 2017, Mr. Metwally Hegazy disappeared at Cairo International Airport before boarding a flight to Geneva. Mr. Metwally Hegazy was travelling to Switzerland in response to an invitation by the United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID). The whereabouts of Mr. Metwally Hegazy remained unknown from that date until September 12, when he had been located in State Security Prosecution custody. He was interrogated by the State Security Prosecution (SSP) for charges of communicating with foreign entities to harm state security, spreading false news and forming and managing a group that was formed against the law and the constitution.
Mr. Metwally Hegazy is not the only member of the Association of the Families of the Disappeared who has been targeted by the Egyptian authorities. Fellow Co-founders Ms. Hanan Badr El-Din Othman and Mr. Ahmed Amasha as well as Mr. Islam Salameh (another lawyer who represents the forcibly disappeared families) have been arrested and detained during 2016 and 2017.
L4L believes these incidents are part of a wider crackdown against human rights defenders, including lawyers, and independent civil society, perpetuated by the Egyptian government that risks to bring to a complete eradication of the human rights community in Egypt. L4L will closely follow further developments in Egypt.