Egypt’s deputy interior minister Ali Abdel-Mola said on Tuesday that the phenomenon of forced disappearances carried out by authorities does not exist in Egypt, state-run Ahram Online reports. The United Nations defines forced disappearance as occurring when “persons are arrested, detained or abducted against their will or otherwise deprived of their liberty by officials of different branches or levels of Government, or by organized groups or private individuals acting on behalf of, or with the support, direct or indirect, consent or acquiescence of the Government, followed by a refusal to disclose the fate or whereabouts of the persons concerned or a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of their liberty, which places such persons outside the protection of the law.” A report on the issue penned by the interior ministry and submitted to the parliament’s human rights committee on Tuesday, proved, according to the deputy minister, that there are no cases of forced disappearances in the country. “There is no such thing as the crime of forced disappearances in Egypt,” he was quoted as saying. Abdel-Mola told reporters on Tuesday that the National Council for Human Rights had submitted a report to…
’No Such Thing as Forced Disappearances in Egypt,’ Says Deputy Interior Minister
May 18, 2016
