President Sisi Pardons 165 Detained Youth for Ramadan While Enforced Disappearances on the Rise

News broke today that Egypt’s President Sisi has pardoned 165 detained youth in honor of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Traditionally, Egyptian Presidents have pardoned detainees and non-violent convicts in celebration of national and religious holidays.

Al-Ahram Arabic reports that the list of names has yet to be announced. Preliminary reports reveal that there are no prominent activists on the list, but five minors and four students are among the 165 pardoned detainees.

Sisi’s pardoning comes after a marked increase in the number of  youth activists who have been forcibly “disappeared” by Egyptian security forces in the past several months. These young Egyptians, some of whom are members of the Muslim Brotherhood, others associated with the April 6th youth movement, and others independent activists, are typically abducted and detained without due process and held for indefinite periods of time in undisclosed locations. Sometimes they are released days later, sometimes they are returned to their family in a body bag.

Prisoners’ rights group, Freedom of the Brave, reports that 163 people have been forcibly disappeared since April. According to the organization, 64 have been returned to their families, including two who were returned dead. The victims include 23-year-old Islam Ateeto (whose bullet-riddled body was returned to his mother days after his abduction) and Sabry al-Ghoul (who died in military custody after a security sweeping in Sinai, although this has yet to be confirmed by the Ministry of the Interior).

“We reached a point of having killing squads in the Ministry of Interior used against activists. The rights of citizens are being lost, and the constitution ignored. The Ministry of Interior is taking its vengeance against the people who made the 25 January Revolution,” Mokhtar Mounir, a lawyer at the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE), told Mada Masr last Friday.

In a statement to Daily News Egypt last week, the Interior Ministry spokesperson denied that targeting youth is a strategy currently employed by the Egyptian government.

However, experts who are aware of the statistics have noted an abrupt increase in the number of enforced disappearances just in the past several months. “Over the last four years, there were cases of enforced disappearances, but it was not the default, it was more rare… one among other violations,” said Mona Seif, an activist who works with detainees.

The following data was released by Freedom of the Brave last week:

Disappearances in Egypt: April-June 2015

Continued disappearance 66
Disappearance not followed up 31
Disappearance ended 64
Disappearance and death 2

The organization’s documentation showed a sharp spike in enforced disappearances in Egypt during the third week of May.

WE SAID THIS: We hope this trend doesn’t continue. #ForcedDisappearances