A/HRC/13/42*
page 110
heightened risk of torture for terrorist suspects, and the lack of investigation and
accountability.422
224. On 2 September 2009, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and
the Special Rapporteur on torture sent an urgent communication to the Government of Egypt
regarding the alleged enforced disappearance of Mohamed Fahim Hussein, Khaled Adel
Hussein, Ahmed Adel Hussein, Mohamed Salah Abdel Fattah, Mohamed Hussein Ahmed
Hussein, Adel Gharieb Ahmed, Ibrahim Mohamed Taha, Sameh Mohamed Taha, Ahmed Saad
El Awadi, Ahmed Ezzat Ali, Samir Abdel Hamid el Metwalli, Ahmed El Sayed Nasef, Ahmed
Farhan Sayed Ahmed, Ahmed El Sayed Mahmoud el Mansi, Mohamed Khamis El Sayed
Ibrahim and Yasser Abdel Qader Abd El Fattah Bisar. According to the information received,
State Security Intelligence agents are believed to have abducted these 16 persons for having
allegedly belonged to the “Zeitoun terror cell”, accused of Islamist extremism and of preparing
terrorist attacks. It was also reported that, even though the Government publicly recognized the
detention of these persons, it did not disclose their place of detention. Mr. El Sayed Mahmoud
el-Mansi saw his lawyer by chance in the State Security Prosecution at which time he said that,
following his abduction, he had been blindfolded, stripped naked, tied to an iron bed without a
mattress and deprived of sleep. He indicated receiving electroshocks to his private parts, nipples
and ears. Further information received indicates that Mr. Fahim Hussein and Mr. Farhan Sayed
Ahmed were brought before the Prosecutor on 23 August 2009. It was reported that, during the
hearing, they stated that they had been tortured. It was also alleged that, after the hearing, they
were once again taken to an unknown location and that neither the Attorney General nor the
Chief Prosecutor knew where they were being held. These cases are all still under the
consideration of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.423
225. The experts held an interview with Azhar Khan, a British national who was reportedly held
in secret detention in Cairo for about five days in July 2008.424 During the interview, Mr. Khan
reported that, in 2004, he had been arrested for being related to people accused of committing
terrorist acts, but that he had been later released without charge. Moreover, he reported that, in
2008, he decided to go to Egypt with a friend, where they arrived on 9 July 2008. Upon arrival at
the airport, Mr. Khan was detained, but his friend was not. Mr. Khan was then taken to a room
located before passport control, where he stayed until the following night, when he was taken
handcuffed, hooded and at gunpoint to a place which he described as an old prison located at
about 20 minutes from the airport. Upon arrival, he was put in stress positions and had short
electroshocks applied to his ribs and back. Later, he was taken to a room where two people were
waiting, one who spoke English, the other Arabic. There were also two other people taking
notes. The English speaker asked questions related only to the United Kingdom, including about
his arrest in 2004. He was also asked about his personal life in the United Kingdom, including
his religion and the mosque he attended. He was interrogated a second time and asked the same
422
A/HRC/13/37/Add.2.
423
Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture (A/HRC/13/39/Add.1) and the Working Group
on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (A/HRC/13/31), para.192.
424
Interview with Azhar Khan (annex II, case 13).
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