Cairo: 20 August 2020
After a historic ruling it obtained regarding the enforced disappearance of a citizen, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said: The Interior Ministry’s officials should comply with the ruling issued by the Court of Administrative Justice and fulfill its role prescribed in the Constitution and the law to the fullest extent. One the most important duties of the Interior Ministry is to be aware of a citizen’s whereabouts and place of residence as long as he is alive, and to search- using its apparatus- for the enforced disappeared citizens and try to either disclose their whereabouts or clarify their fate. It is not permissible for the Interior Ministry to merely state that a citizen is not being held in its custody, otherwise the society’s security and order will be disturbed and chaos and turmoil will prevail, in a way that the Interior’s commitment to preserve the lives of citizens would be nothing but words on paper with no minimum benefit”.
In this context, ANHRI had lodged a lawsuit No. 14612 of 74 Judicial Year demanding to oblige the Minister of Interior to disclose the fate of citizen “Atef Mohamed Rasim Farag,” who was arrested by the security forces on the 2nd of October 2018. However, the citizen’s fate is still unknown in spite of reporting his case to both the Minister of Interior and the Public Prosecutor. But consequently, the Court of Administrative Justice’s First Circuit has issued its final decision to pronounce on the matter in the urgent part of the case.
The ruling points out that the Interior Ministry announcing that the citizen is not being held in any of its prisons without declaring any measures to search for him or clarify his fate contradicts its constitutional duties and its legal obligations to preserve citizens’ life and ensure their security and reassurance since it occupies all the research apparatus in the country.
ANHRI hence calls on the Ministry of the Interior and all state authorities to respect the law and its rules; since the sovereignty of the laws is the basis of state rule, which requires dealing seriously and responsibly in enforced disappearance cases and not merely announcing that the citizen is not held in the custody of the Interior Ministry, while offering no response clarify the fate of the enforced disappeared persons.
ANHRI also calls on the Parliament to enact independent legislation to confront the phenomenon of enforced disappearance, and not turn a blind eye to such serious issue; since it has become a phenomenon that threatens the security and stability of many Egyptian families, in violation of Egypt’s international obligations.
The ruling after obtaining it:
