By: Karem Yehia
Nine years before, Joel Campagna Middle East and North Africa C.p.j coordinator responsible for the Middle East expressed his astonishment on Reda Helal colleagues in Al Ahram total silence about his disappear from 11 Aug 2004.Although four years had passed away from the event, He was complaining against lack of co operation with the investiga
tion that he had come specially to Cairo to conduct. A passive and suspicious stand the chief in editor shared with other colleagues. Sorry, may I was the only person inside Al Ahram who dare to speak to him about Helal and accept publishing my name (1). Although , I was always disagree with my colleague – who has become a enforced disappear – on his opinions .Also we were differ on our view points towards the authority and our relations with it inside the press institution and the state.
Remembering Campana meeting in my far isolated humble office in the newspaper , I was resisting dismay among us caused by this enforced disappearance. Like sand waves, the silence covered Al Ahram, surrounding everything after discovering the disappearance of a work and profession colleague . This silence in turn maximized our feeling being afraid. The C.P.J investigation text keeps my answer on Campana ,s question and confusion .I said :” . I think people here are scared, especially with the mysterious circumstances.”
On the eve of The International Day of the victims of Enforced disappearance (today),there was a seminar on this occasion( 29 august) at the press syndicate . The place was in itself a kind of resistance against fear , although no one of the syndicate council members attended or participated. Concerning the un preceded repressive campaign against the syndicate, storming its headquarter and hijacking two journalists the first of May(2). And then the ongoing trail of its chairman, the general secretary and the chairman deputy .Any way ,The fear was mentioned twice in this context. One lawyer hinted that the families of the disappears usually afraid to inform and have no trust in moving to address authorities, which by origin neglect and deny. He was trying to find a reason of the different statistics about the numbers of the disappears in recent years. The second when a colleague asserted that an important reason can interpret the grownups of the enforced disappearance phenomena after the third of July 2013 ,specially in El Sisi era . This is the intending of spread fear among the Egyptians to abort the objection and the change desire.
In the seminar, A new statistic was added. The Egyptian commission for rights and freedoms said that there are 912 en forced disappears .The rate is three cases per day .This was the conclusion within a year of the complains it had received and watching from August 2015 :2016.But , It also covers cases belonging to a period extended to August 2013.Also we have bigger estimations were issued from “The Egyptian co ordination for rights and freedoms” . It watched and documented 1203 cases within the first half of 2015 only. Its representative told the seminar that the rate is 5 cases every day.
The national council for human rights ( NC H R) have conservative estimations with less statistics. It watched 266 cases based on applications of enforced disappearance on the international terms written and advanced to ( N C H R) between April 2015 and March 2016.The council said that the interior ministry co operation helped in to clarify the fates of 238 out of them. This report assured that the ministry was hiding many cases for days, months and years , without condemnation or calling for investigation and prosecution. In a a soft language, the report avoided the term “ enforced disappearance” .Instead this it replaced the term using a less important and dangerous one :” detention out of law ”.Also it avoided demanding the prosecution and trail of the responsible men of this crime .The title of the report “ The enforced disappearance between calming and reality “ may reflux the statements of the council chairman , even before issuing the report and fulfilling the work of the concerned committee .He spoke about “ mere exaggerations” and saying “ It is not a phenomena”. In addition, he accused the international organization of The Muslem Brothers abroad arising the cause.
N C H R was appointed by the executive authority. Its council includs politicians have their tends and adversaries. But its report ends to recommendations that agree with many human rights organization and groups, including the league of the enforced disappears families. Like the ratification on “The international convection for the protection of all persons from enforced disappearance”, that U .N General Assembly agreed in 2006 , was implemented in 2010 and many Arabic and African states ratified .N C H R recommendations called for criminalizing the enforced disappearance in the Egyptian legislations .Actually ,The laws do not mention at all the term. They only give three years in prison maximum for “detention out the law ”.The N C H R recommends also the victims right on reparation.
Passing away the human rights society in Egypt split between the lessening and justification from one side, and the exaggeration from other side . Also putting aside the determination of responsibility and the people who are responsible about the enforced disappearance , denying and covering it , We can say it becomes difficult to deny the un preceded growing wild of the enforced disappearance in the Egyptian modern history. This is according the statistics in maximum and minimum figures. It cannot be ignored that the phenomena exceeded beyond the well known cases of these famous general persons, like ex. Libyan foreign minister Mansour El – Kekhia in Dec 1993 and the journalist writer Reda Helal (3) .Now, the crime body extends floating over the river along the country . It enters many cities and villages districts. The victims are also students, professionals, workers and idles .Even there are women and children.
Comparing with, The past statistics about enforced disappearance in Egypt were humble. For example ,A human rights centre for helping prisoners documented only 28 cases between Dec 1982 to June 2000.More than 10 years. The human rights activist Hafez Abu Seda told me that the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights documented 57 cases in all Mubarak’s era , which exceeded to about 30 years. Abu Seda now can not at all classified among whom called :“The exaggerators , exciters and the regime defamers” .
I myself met enforced disappears relatives who have complained from the revolution days (Jan 2011).Before, They were coming to Tahrir Square searching them and asking help. We have to confess that we did not interest enough, although all that political momentum we had lived day by day and Friday after Friday in the square. But, The horrible strikes became beside me one after another. I mean the enforced disappearance of two colleagues :the journalists Muhamed El Batawy and Sabry Anwer. Even before the clumsy and uproar of the Giulio Regeni disappearance in the beginning of this year , I lived our colleague Batawy hijacking events by the security forces from his home at Toukh ( AL Qalubia Governorate) for one week in June 2015,although my role was only attending to the Journalist Syndicate and following up his case beside his family and other colleagues. The syndicate used the term “ Enforced disappearance “ in its statements . SO , The interior ministry was forced to disclose the place of his detention. But, It push him accused in a case . According to ,He is still detained till now.
Also , I have lived the disappearance of our colleague from (AL Badeel) Sabry Anwer after he was arrested from his home at Kafer El Batekh ( Damietta Governorate), although from a long distance and via joint friends .I knew he had appeared as a detainee in another case too.Unfortunatlly , He was less lucky comparing to his colleague El Batawy. He disappeared about four month from 23 Feb 2016.
Between this and that, I met and listened directly to enforced disappears relatives who had introduced a collective appeal to the general prosecutor on 18 Nov 2015 ( No 19763) concerning 10 cases . Depending on this appeal I wrote to the the general prosecutor and N C H R via an article published in Al Ahram after few days (4) . But the G .P did nothing .He has not replied .So, No response to the appeal or the opinion article .As I mentioned before about the N C H R . It started to move. But those were its report and the result.
At last , I met before few weeks the families of the detainees ( civilians) who have been trailed by military court on kafr El Sheikh stadium explosion. I got well informed and be assured on the enforced disappearance of their sons and brothers and torture them to get by force confessions before appearing above the military prosecution and court. Actually, a convicted and executed sentences were given without looking on the allegations of enforced disappearance and torture (5).Now , they are waiting the annulment .But above of another military court. On this occasion , like others , there are no chance to me to publish again in Al Ahram. May be , I did not dare to try. But , There were indicators and previous events I had tested by myself . This makes me convinced that it is not possible.
I concluded in an article published outside Al Ahram (6) that it is obvious and clear without dispute many of documented that the disappearance cases happened after the security forces had arrested the victims and putting them under interrogation and detention in the headquarters of so called “ . The National Security “ ( before The State Security) .Actually , Disappeared people may appear as killed corps in remote areas , although there were evident and eye witnesses on being arrested by the police. Here we can mention the case of the engineering student “ Islam Ateto” who his colleagues testimonies assured that he was taken from the exam committee inside the university. And there are whom the stories of their appearance have been surrounded by obscurity from A to Z , like the Italian student Regeni. Un estimated numbers of disappears too have been belonged to the times of the massacres of the Republican Guards , Rabia Set In and Fath Mosque events. But , There are many cases appearing lately as accused people in cases with political background. This was the case of the enforced disappearance victims above the military court of Kafr El Sheikh.
The problem is not only Egypt has not ratify the international convection against the enforced disappearance. But also ,no word about enforced disappearance exists in the constitution or the laws. Only article 54 of the constitution says :” It is not permissible to arrest ,search ,detain or restrict the freedom of anyone in any way exempt by virtue of a reasoned judicial order that was required in the context of an investigation “. Also the constitution talks about the empowerment of the person whose freedom is restricted to contact his relatives and lawyer within 24 hours .The law punishes three years in jail for the illegal detention . So, the Egyptians have not yet seen activation of these texts. The most astonishing that the interior minister again denies even a one case of enforced disappearance. He was himself an ex manager of The National Security.
Now , On the occasion of the international day of the victims of enforced disappearance and the seminar which was convicted in the journalists syndicate and to whom I was invited to speak, I can notice some of the playing rules. The hundreds or the thousands of enforced disappearance cases spread an atmosphere of fear and silence among their societies, including the neighbors, the residents of their distracts, the cities and the villages. Also in the study and work places ..extra. The same smell of the fear which Campana discovered when he was visiting Al Ahram in 2007. But , of course it has enlarged to bigger and more dangerous borders. May the playing rules need to ignore this crime from the persons who are responsible about the phenomena. And the collusion of more officials in denying when they use a repeated discourse oriented to inside and abroad. So, these are the rules of a double play with two contradicted faces.
Personally and close to me, It is painful and frustrated not to disclose the fate of my colleague Reda Helal after all these years, and has not trailed the criminals yet. It is painful and frustrated too to find my colleagues E L Batawy and Anwer still under detention and in absence , although they got rid the darkness of an enforced disappearance lasted days or months . SO , I was listening about their and their families suffering .And I am still till now.
But , We have to knock this wall of fear .. by our consciencess.
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(*) The article was published first in Arabic on 30 Aug 2016 in Mada Maser
http://www.madamasr.com/ar/2016/08/30/opinion/u
1. Joel Campana , The Forgetten Man: C P J
Special Report , 17 Oct 2007.
https://cpj.org/reports/2007/10/the-forgotten-man.php
2. They are Amro Bader and Mahmoud El Saqa the chief in editor and a journalist of ‘Bawabet Yanair” news website.The first were released 28 Aug 2016.
3. Reda Helal fate is still without clarification. The Libyan general prosecutor declared in 11 Sep 2012 that the last inelegance manager of Gaddafi era so called Abdallah El Senousi had confessed hijacking Kekhia from Cairo and buried him in
Libya . Actually , His body was founded there.
4. http://www.ahram.org.eg/NewsQ/455817.aspx
5. The Alexandria military criminal court in 2 March 2016 gave death penalties in presence to Lutfi Ibrahim Ismail , Ahmed Abd Almonem Salama, Ahmed Abd Elhadi Mouhamed El Sehemi and Sameh Abdella Mouhamed Yousef and gave others life imprisonments and prison sentences to others. Their relatives and lawyers proved the enforced disappearance and the torture for getting what they described as confused confessions. For example the first accused man was arrested on 19 April 2015, but the official seizure report said the arrest had happened on 30 June 2015.
6. http://orientxxi.info/magazine/enquete-sur-les-disparitions-forcees-en-egypte,1286,1286
