A/HRC/19/58 Shadi, Ms. Nadia Hashem, Mr. Ahmed Hamdy Mahmoud, Mr. Said Haddadi, Mr. Daniel Williams, Ms. Sofia Amara, and Mr. Pedro da Foneska. General Allegations Summary of the general allegation 209. Information was submitted by sources concerning obstacles encountered in the implementation of the Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance in Egypt. This information was transmitted to the Government on 4 May 2011, after the Working Group’s ninety-third session. 210. It was reported that the practice of enforced disappearances by the State Security Investigations (SSI) was used routinely before 2011. It has been alleged that SSI officers summon individuals or arrest them, after which the person disappears for a period of time, for up to two or three months. 211. It was further alleged that the disappeared persons were secretly detained at offices in local governorates for a few weeks, whereas longer-term detention occurs at SSI headquarters in Cairo, although reportedly, Egyptian law prohibits detention in SSI facilities, which are not recognized as official places of detention. 212. Allegedly, when families of the disappeared made informal enquiries with the police or prosecutor’s office, officials either denied knowing the whereabouts of their relative, or informed them verbally, and informally, that SSI was detaining the person. 213. Sources alleged that SSI officers in late June - early July 2009 detained 24 persons in connection with the armed robbery of a Cairo jewellery shop in May 2008, and their alleged plans to carry out attacks on shipping in the Suez Canal, and held them in incommunicado for up to two months. Sources further reported that, in what is known as the Hizbollah case, SSI officers detained 22 defendants in incommunicado detention from the time of their arrest in late 2008 and early 2009 until they appeared before the State security prosecutor in July 2010. 214. No response was received from the Government during the reporting period regarding this general allegation. Information from the Government 215. The Government transmitted three communications to the Working Group, dated 28 May, 4 June and 12 August 2010, which could not be translated in time for inclusion in the 2010 annual report (A/HRC/16/48). 216. In the first communication, the Government submitted a reply with regard to 18 outstanding cases, and requested additional information on six of them. Based on the information provided by the Government, the Working Group decided, at its 95 th session, to apply the six-month rule to one case. The information provided concerning the remaining cases was considered insufficient to lead to their clarification. 217. The second and third communications concerned two outstanding cases which had been previously clarified by the sources. 218. During the reporting period, the Government transmitted one communication dated 11 October 2011. This communication concerned two outstanding cases, and the information provided was considered insufficient to lead to their clarification. 52