Following the arrest of at least 19 Alexandrian young men in their homes by security forces on 4 and 5 February and their transfer to unknown locations, the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) now claims they reappeared in Al-Montazah police station last Saturday. While the police initially denied that the youths had been taken into custody, activist Mona Seif posted on Facebook pictures of 15 of them, as well as testimonies from their families. One such testimony claimed that security forces assaulted the men and when relatives asked where the police were taking them, they were told that their bodies could later be recovered from the morgue. Following the youths’ reappearance on 13 February, the prosecutor decided to detain them for 15 days pending investigations. According to the ECESR statement, they were charged with belonging to an outlawed group, setting fire to ATMs, the Mandara police station and a car and a motorcycle belonging to the police, in addition to possessing fireworks and Molotov cocktails. Although not confirmed as of yet, information has emerged from the families of the disappeared suggesting that they were subjected to torture while in…
