BEIRUT —
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday
called on the Egyptian authorities to reveal the whereabouts of a
Muslim Brotherhood member who reportedly disappeared following an unscheduled landing
in Egypt.
اضافة اعلان
Hossam Menoufy Sallam was travelling on January 12
on a direct flight from Khartoum to Istanbul when his flight made an
unscheduled landing in Luxor in Egypt’s south, HRW said.
The unplanned landing took place as a “routine
procedure” after the smoke detection system went off in the cargo cabin, the
Khartoum-based Badr Airlines said in a statement.
“After all passengers disembarked to the transit
lounge, security officers summoned Menoufy and checked his passport and travel
documents,” HRW said in its report.
“He was last seen by witnesses in the custody of
Egyptian officials,” the New York-based group added.
Egypt’s interior ministry issued a statement on
January 15 saying that Menoufy was held in custody pending investigations.
“The Egyptian government should immediately disclose
Hossam Menoufy’s whereabouts and allow his lawyer and family to see him,” said
Joe Stork, HRW’s deputy Middle East director.
“Forcibly disappearing him is a serious crime,” he
continued.
Local media in Egypt reported that Menoufy was a
leading figure of the militant group Hasm, believed to be a breakaway faction
of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Egyptian activists suggested that the forced landing
of the Sudanese flight points to the close cooperation between Egypt and Sudan,
where the military led by Gen.
Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan staged a coup on October
25.
Egypt launched a harsh crackdown on the Muslim
Brotherhood group after the 2013 military ouster of late president Mohamed
Morsi, who hailed from the group.
Thousands of the group’s supporters have since been
jailed on terror-related charges.
The Brotherhood was designated a “terrorist
organization” in late 2013. The group has consistently denied any links with
violence.
On Sunday, an Egyptian court sentenced to death 10
Brotherhood members found guilty of violence against security officers in 2015,
a judicial source said.
The case was referred to the Grand Mufti,
Egypt’s
top theological authority — a formality in death penalty cases — before the
court meets on June 19 to confirm the sentences.
Read more Region and World
.jpg)
.jpg)
