Egyptian activist Sanaa Seif detained, family decries ‘abduction’
Relatives of a prominent Egyptian pro-democracy activist have said his younger sister was taken away by what they believe were state security officers in the capital, Cairo.
Sanaa Seif, a 26-year-old activist and sister of imprisoned blogger and activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, was forced into a minivan outside the general prosecutor’s office on Tuesday.
The family members were there to file an official complaint about being physically assaulted outside Cairo’s Tora prison complex the previous day.
“Sanaa was just abducted by a microbus from in front of general prosecutor office!” Seif’s older sister, Mona, said in a Twitter post.
She later added that an investigation has been opened against her sister by the state security apparatus.
There was no immediate comment by Egyptian authorities.
In a Twitter post, Amnesty International expressed concern that Seif “was brought in front of the Supreme State Security Prosecution simply for demanding accountability and asking to receive a letter from her arbitrarily detained brother as is her right under Egyptian law”.
Using the term “arrested” implies a legality to the process
Sanaa Seif was not “arrested”, Sanaa was ABDUCTED, and her abduction was facilitated by the official guards of the general prosecutors office.— Mona Seif (@Monasosh) June 23, 2020
The family had been attempting to communicate with Abdel Fattah, who was imprisoned last September after rare, small-scale protests erupted demanding President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi step down.
“We have been beaten up, dragged by the hair, clothes torn infront of Tora by women thugs on the watch of all police there,” Mona wrote on Twitter on Monday.
She added that they had also been robbed of their personal identity cards and money, as well as some other belongings.
We have been beaten up, dragged by the hair, clothes torn infront of Tora by women thugs on the watch of all police there pic.twitter.com/pvcGNVynNp
— Mona Seif (@Monasosh) June 22, 2020
Egyptian authorities had banned visitors from seeing relatives in prison as part of coronavirus containment measures.
Rights groups and activists had repeatedly called for the government to release prisoners amid the outbreak, but to no avail.
“At the best of times Egypt’s prisons are clusters for disease,” Mona wrote back in March.
Rights groups have repeatedly criticised Egyptian prisons for overcrowding and unsanitary conditions.
Human Rights Watch said in March an epidemiological “disaster” could be spared if authorities granted prisoners conditional release.
Abdel Fattah rose to prominence with the 2011 uprisings that swept the region and in Egypt toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.
He was previously released in March last year, after serving five years in prison for taking part in a peaceful protest.
Rights activists say el-Sisi has overseen an unprecedented crackdown on freedoms in Egypt since taking power in 2013 and then taking office in 2014. The Egyptian president and his backers say the measures are needed to keep the country stable and counter threats from armed groups.
Thousands of people have been arrested – both secular-leaning activists and members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood – all while scaling back freedoms won after the 2011 uprising.
Egypt banned all unauthorised protests in 2013, months after el-Sisi led the military’s removal of the country’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, following mass protests.