The most notable abuses that took place during February 2022

Summary:

The Sinai Foundation for Human Rights documented 6 abuses during February 2022, 3 of which were committed by each of the conflicting parties. The foundation’s legal team documented several abuses during this month in which trials could be described as lacking the standards of fair trial where defendants appeared before the prosecution after varying periods of enforced disappearance.

On the other hand, this month witnessed the murder of 3 civilians, one of whom was a child, and the injury of 5 others, 2 of whom were children, as a result of the explosion of explosive devices in three separate incidents in Sheikh Zuwayed and Rafah. The devices were most likely planted by ISIS members to target government forces.

 

The Sinai Foundation for Human Rights also followed up on ISIS organizing the abduction of 5 civilians in two separate incidents in Hasanah in central Sinai.

 

Details of the abuses

Egyptian law enforcement forces abuses:

Forcibly disappeared individuals appearing in court as defendants 

The Sinai Foundation for Human Rights followed up on the prosecution of 12 civilians from Sinai in trials that lack the standards of fair trial. The State Supreme Security Prosecution started interrogations with the defendants in February 2022 and charged them with joining a terrorist group, based on National Security investigations.

 

The first incident .. The foundation’s legal team documented on 5 February 2022 the appearance of the defendant Suliman Ouda Hussein Eid, 45, before the State Supreme Security Prosecution in Cairo after close to 7 months of enforced disappearance.

Suliman is a resident of Nekhel City and works as a driver. He was arrested on 15 July 2021 after being stopped at a Ministry of Interior ambush in Ismailia while driving a small pick-up truck. He was stopped at the ambush and taken to Ismailia Security Directorate where he was detained for two months. He was then transferred to the security forces camp in Ismailia on 17 September 2021 where he remained detained till 20 January 2022. He was then transferred back to Ismailia Security Directorate where he remained till he was brought before the State Supreme Security Prosecution on 5 February 2022 pending further proceedings in case number 1935 for the year 2021. The prosecution charged Suliman with joining a terrorist group and ordered the continuation of his preventative detention for 15 days pending further proceedings in the case.

 

The second incident .. The foundation’s legal team documented on 5 February 2022 the appearance of the defendant Ayub Suliman Ehmeed Mohamed Hassan, 21, before the State Supreme Security Prosecution in Cairo pending further proceedings in case number 1935 for the year 2021. Ayub is a resident of Gouz Abou Raad village in Rafah and works as a farmer. The prosecution charged him with joining a terrorist group and ordered the continuation of his preventative detention for 15 days pending further proceedings in the case.

 

The third incident .. The foundation’s legal team documented on 6 February 2022 the appearance of the defendant Mohamed Said Alian Said, 48, before the State Supreme Security Prosecution in Cairo pending further proceedings in case number 1935 for the year 2021 after three months of enforced disappearance.

Mohamed is from Arish and currently resides in Ismailia. Security forces arrested him on 5 November 2021, and he was subjected to three months of enforced disappearance at the National Security base in Ismailia till he appeared before the prosecution for resumed interrogations on 6 February 2022. During State Security Prosecution interrogations, the defendant said that two of his brothers have been imprisoned for two years and he knows nothing about them as they were not brought before any court, and he knows nothing about them after the day they were arrested. He also denied any relations with any political or terrorist groups. The prosecution charged him with joining a terrorist group and ordered the continuation of his preventative detention for 15 days pending further proceedings in the case.

 

The fourth incident .. The foundation’s legal team documented on 6 February 2022 the appearance of the defendant Salah Ahmed Suliman Eid before the State Supreme Security Prosecution in Cairo pending further proceedings in case number 1935 for the year 2021. The prosecution did not allow an attorney to be present with the defendant despite their presence at the location. The prosecution also did not attempt to assign an attorney to be present with the defendant and ordered him to preventative detention for 15 days pending further proceedings in the case.

 

The fifth incident .. The foundation’s legal team documented on 7 February 2022 the appearance of the defendant Ibrahim Hussein Muhsin Hussein before the State Supreme Security Prosecution in Cairo pending further proceedings in case number 1935 for the year 2021 after a year of enforced disappearance.

Ibrahim stated before the prosecution during interrogations that he was from of Sheikh Zuwayed, currently residing in Ismailia. He added that he was arrested from his place of residence in Ismailia on 3 January 2021, and that he remained detained at the National Security base in Ismailia till he was brought before the State Supreme Security Prosecution on 7 February 2022, and he denied the charges brought against him by the prosecution and denied having any relations with terrorist groups. The prosecution charged him with joining a terrorist group and ordered the continuation of his preventative detention for 15 days pending further proceedings in the case.

 

The sixth incident .. The foundation’s legal team documented on 8 February 2022 the appearance of the defendant Nadia Mohamed Selmy Salman, 38, before the State Supreme Security Prosecution in Cairo pending further proceedings in case number 1935 for the year 2021 after a year of enforced disappearance.

Nadia stated before the prosecution during investigations that her husband is a member of the Islamic State group, known as Sinai Province group, and that she planned to run away from him for a long time till she managed to escape in December 2021 and go to her brother’s house in Arish. She left her 7-year-old daughter Rawan with her brother and decided to turn herself in to the authorities. Her brother took her to the military intelligence base in Arish, and after interrogating her, she was transported to the National Security base in Ismailia in January 2021. The defendant stated that she remained detained at the National Security base for a month, then was transferred to the first police station in Ismailia in February 2021 where she remained detained till she was brought before the State Supreme Security Prosecution on 8 February 2022. The prosecution charged her with joining a terrorist group and ordered the continuation of her preventative detention for 15 days pending further proceedings in the case.

 

The seventh incident .. The foundation’s legal team documented on 8 February 2022 the appearance of the defendant Mohamed Ibrahim Ouda Hamad before the State Supreme Security Prosecution in Cairo pending further proceedings in case number 1935 for the year 2021. The prosecution did not allow an attorney to be present with the defendant despite their presence at the location. The prosecution also did not attempt to assign an attorney to be present with the defendant and ordered him to preventative detention for 15 days pending further proceedings in the case.

 

The eighth incident .. The foundation’s legal team documented on 8 February 2022 the appearance of the defendant Jibril Salih Salim Mohamed before the State Supreme Security Prosecution in Cairo pending further proceedings in case number 1935 for the year 2021. The prosecution did not allow an attorney to be present with the defendant despite their presence at the location. The prosecution also did not attempt to assign an attorney to be present with the defendant and ordered him to preventative detention for 15 days pending further proceedings in the case.

 

The ninth incident .. The foundation’s legal team documented on 8 February 2022 the appearance of the defendant Mohamed Muslim Suliman Muslim before the State Supreme Security Prosecution in Cairo pending further proceedings in case number 1935 for the year 2021. The prosecution did not allow an attorney to be present with the defendant despite their presence at the location. The prosecution also did not attempt to assign an attorney to be present with the defendant and ordered him to preventative detention for 15 days pending further proceedings in the case.

 

The tenth incident .. The foundation’s legal team documented on 8 February 2022 the appearance of the defendant Yusef Mahmoud Maiouf Suliman before the State Supreme Security Prosecution in Cairo pending further proceedings in case number 1935 for the year 2021. The prosecution did not allow an attorney to be present with the defendant despite their presence at the location. The prosecution also did not attempt to assign an attorney to be present with the defendant and ordered him to preventative detention for 15 days pending further proceedings in the case.

 

The eleventh incident .. The foundation’s legal team documented on 15 February 2022 the appearance of the defendant Ahmed Suliman Salama, 49, before the State Supreme Security Prosecution in Cairo pending further proceedings in case number 1935 for the year 2021 after two months of enforced disappearance. 

The defendant stated before the prosecution during interrogations that he was from Sheikh Zuwayed, currently residing in Sheikh Salim village in Ismailia. He added that security forces arrested him at his residence on 21 December 2021, and he remained detained in the National Security base in Ismailia for two months till he was brought before the State Supreme Security prosecution in Cairo. The defendant stated that he has no relations with any armed or political groups, and did not participate in any protests, and that he supports four children. The prosecution charged him with joining a terrorist group and ordered the continuation of her preventative detention for 15 days pending further proceedings in case number 1935 for the year 2021.

 

The twelfth incident .. The foundation’s legal team documented on 20 February 2022 the appearance of the defendant Mohamed Sabry Mohamed Suliman, 36, before the State Supreme Security Prosecution in Cairo pending further proceedings in case number 1222 for the year 2021 after fifty days of enforced disappearance. 

The defendant stated before the prosecution during interrogations that he worked as an engineer at the National Telecommunications Authority’s Arish call center. He added that security forces arrested him while he was walking on the street in Arish on 29 December 2021. He stated that he was subjected to preventive detention for 3 months in 2016 pending a case where he was charged with joining a terrorist group and that he had previously been released on the same charge he is facing now. The prosecution charged him with joining a terrorist group and ordered the continuation of her preventative detention for 15 days pending further proceedings in the case.

 

Legal Analysis

Looking at what the defendants stated during the interrogations, there is no doubt that many infractions and violations considered crimes in the eyes of the Egyptian law took place, in addition to the prosecution’s violation of the simplest rules and procedural guarantees stated by the Egyptian law especially in the case of initial investigations.

 

First: The detainment of arrested individuals without permission from the relevant judicial authorities for longer than the legal detainment period.

 

Article 54 of the Egyptian constitution states that: “Personal freedom is a natural right which is safeguarded and cannot be infringed upon. Except in cases of in flagrante delicto, citizens may only be apprehended, searched, arrested, or have their freedoms restricted by a causal judicial warrant necessitated by an investigation. All those whose freedoms have been restricted shall be immediately informed of the causes therefor, notified of their rights in writing, be allowed to immediately contact their family and lawyer, and be brought before the investigating authority within twenty-four hours of their freedoms having been restricted…”.

Article 36 of the Code of Criminal Procedure states that: “The criminal investigation officer shall immediately hear the statements of the arrested suspect who, if he fails to establish his innocence, shall be brought before the office of the competent public prosecutor within 24 hours. The office of the public prosecutor shall question him within 24 hours, after which it shall order either his remand in custody or his release”.

Article 40 of the same code states that: “No one shall be arrested or detained except by order of the legally competent authorities. Any person who is arrested or detained shall be treated in a manner conducive to the preservation of his human dignity and shall not be subjected to physical or mental harm”.

Second: The centers where they were detained were as they stated during investigations inhumane, and they were subjected to emotional and physical stress there. In addition, the centers are not supervised by the public prosecution and are not specified in the Prison Regulation Law or its amendments. 

 

Third: The detainment of arrested individuals in unofficial detention centers which fall under no judicial supervision.

 

Article 41 of the Egyptian Code of Criminal Procedure states that: “No person shall be detained except in designated prisons. No warden shall accept any person without an order signed by the designated authority which is the general prosecution, and they are not to be detained beyond the time period specified in the order.”

Article 42 of the same code states that: “Members of the Department of Public Prosecutions and presidents and vice-presidents of courts of first instance shall be empowered to inspect the public and central prisons situated within their areas of jurisdiction in order to ascertain that no one is being detained unlawfully. They shall have the right to examine prison records and arrest and detention orders, take copies thereof, contact any detainee and hear any complaint that he might wish to submit to them. The prison governors and staff shall provide them with any assistance needed to obtain the information that they request”

Article 1 bis of the Prisons Regulation Act No. 396 of 1956 states that: “Any person who is detained, arrested, taken into custody or deprived of his freedom in any other way shall be committed to one of the prisons indicated in the previous article or in one of the places specified by a decision of the Minister of Interior and in respect of which all the provisions of the law apply, provided that the right to their access as stipulated in Article 85 shall be accorded to the Public Prosecutor or the person he deputizes from among the staff of the Public Prosecution with a rank not below that of Chief Prosecutor.”

 

Fourth: The prosecution deliberately prevents the defendants’ attorneys from accessing investigation reports and the evidence the prosecution uses as a basis for detaining the defendants so the attorneys could refute or comment on them during their defense.

 

The defendants that had no attorney present were: Mohamed Muslim Suliman Muslim, Yusef Mahmoud Maiouf Suliman, Mohamed Ibrahim Ouda Hamad, Jibril Salih Salim Mohamed, Salah Ahmed Suliman Eid.

The investigative body did not allow the defendants to contact their families and attorneys, and instead only used the repetitive preamble in which it is stated that it sent a representative to the base of the Bar Association and found it closed, while the defendant interrogations take place between one and three in the evening which is a time in which a large number of attorneys are present in the Association which is considered to be a circumvention by the prosecution of the defendants’ rights to an attorney with them during interrogations as dictated by the constitution and the law.

Article 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure states that: “The lawyer shall be given permission to examine the case file on the day prior to the interrogation or the confrontation unless the judge decides otherwise. In no case may the accused persons be separated from their lawyer who shall be present during the questioning.”

The investigative body violated the simplest rules regarding this issue, as it did not allow the defendants to contact their families and attorneys, and instead only used the repetitive preamble in which it is stated that it sent a representative to the base of the Bar Association and found it closed, while the defendant interrogations take place between one and three in the evening which is a time in which a large number of attorneys are present in the Association which is considered to be a circumvention by the prosecution of the defendants’ rights to an attorney with them during interrogations as dictated by the constitution and the law.

Article 124 of the Code of Criminal Procedure states that: “In cases of felonies and misdemeanors which are punishable by prison, no investigator may interrogate a suspect or confront said suspect with other suspects or witnesses unless their lawyer is summoned, except in cases of flagrante delicto and urgency out of fear of loss of evidence. The suspect shall state the name of the lawyer thereof in a report written at the court registry or to the warden of the prison, or to the investigator. The lawyer may also do so himself. If the suspect has no lawyer or their lawyer does not show up after being summoned, the investigator is to assign the suspect a lawyer and the lawyer is to document in the report their objections, requests or notes.”

 

What was presented shows how the interrogating authorities dealt with the defendants and ignored their statements during the interrogations on their unlawful detention for varying and long periods of time. It also shows how they dealt with what the defendants faced during these periods of abuse by violating the Egyptian Constitution, the Code of Criminal Justice, and the safeguards for initial investigations.

 

ISIS-affiliate group, Sinai Province, abuses

Random indiscriminate attacks kill three civilians, one of whom was a child, and injure 5 others in Sheikh Zuwayed and Rafah

 

The Sinai Foundation field team documented the murder of three civilians, one of whom was a child, and the injury of three others who were all returning to various parts of Sheikh Zuwayed as a result of the explosion of explosive devices or foreign objects most likely planted by ISIS to target government forces. The foundation team had documented in a report on human rights abuses during the past January the injury of five civilians, two of whom were children, as a result of the explosion of foreign bodies in three separate areas of Sheikh Zuwayed.

 

The armed forces had allowed the inhabitants of some villages in south and west of Sheikh Zuwayed to successively return to their villages since last September, nevertheless, the joy of return did not last long after the villagers found their homes completely destroyed or severely damaged rendering it very difficult to live in them. Their olive and peach farms were either burned down or dried up, in addition to an almost total absence of electricity and water services which the government did not work on providing before allowing civilians to return. The explosive devices and what ISIS left behind increased the returning civilians’ struggles after being away from their homes and villages for 6 or 7 years.

 

In detail, the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights team documented on 19 February 2022 the death of two civilians to the explosion of an explosive device in Abu Malhous neighborhood near Touma village in southern Sheikh Zuwayed. The victims are:

1- Ali Rabah Abu Malhous, 52 years old.

2- Hassan Ahmed Selmy Abu Zour, 45 years old.

 

In an interview the foundation team conducted with a relative of Ali Rabah’s, he told us: “Ali returned to Sheikh Zuwayed two months ago. No sweeps for mines and explosive devices are being conducted to clean the area, people are left to be injured and killed. This was not the first explosion. A few days before Ali died, people reported a foreign object in a small hole in the ground covered with twigs and security forces disarmed it. It was 200 meters from my house. Everyone knew about the existence of those explosives, and all pages posted warnings to those returning. The device that killed Ali and Hassan was planted in the ground so not to be seen until after it explodes killing someone. What happened was, at around 7 PM, we heard an explosion and people ran to see what happened. When I got to where it happened, people had already transported the victims to Sheikh Zuwayed hospital, and late in the night, I learned that Ali and Hassan had died, God rest their souls. What we ask for is for areas to be swept before people’s return. Men, women, and children die. There are new devices that could detect explosives, no need for people dying every day and children being orphaned. Have mercy on us!”
 

Picture of Ali Rabah Abu Malhous

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In a separate incident, the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights team documented on 20 February 2022 the death of a child and the injury of two others due to the explosion of a foreign object in Qabr Omair village in Sheikh Zuwayed.

Dead:

Salama Ahmed Salama, 11, died of his injuries 4 days after the incident.

Injured:

Omar Ahmed Salama, 12

Salama Mohamed Salama, 14

 

Eyewitnesses said that the children were playing close to the highway passing near Qabr Omair village when they held a foreign metal object thought to be left behind in the area by ISIS. The object exploded causing severe injuries to the three children and they were taken to Arish general hospital for treatment. Four days later, the child Salama Ahmed Salama took his last breath.

 

It is worth mentioning that explosions of explosive devices and foreign objects planted or left behind by the group in the streets and houses of villages after withdrawing from them is a common pattern of abuses systemically practiced by ISIS. The Sinai Foundation documented multiple similar incidents during previous months that led to the fall of several civilian victims. Despite the fact that ISIS planted those devices and bears legal responsibility for those attacks, the Egyptian authorities, after regaining control of the land in those areas, is responsible for protecting the lives of civilians by inspecting, combing through, and absolutely securing the area before telling civilians of the possibility of their return to guarantee the protection of lives.

The Sinai Foundation previously issued multiple releases after similar incidents where tens of civilian victims fell,  appealing to the Egyptian authorities to take its legal and ethical responsibility towards civilians and not allow their return to areas that were under ISIS’s control before completely purging them.

On a similar note, the foundation team documented on 8 February 2022, the injury of three civilian workmen due to the explosion of an explosive device while working at connecting a power network to New Rafah. The victims were then transported to receive treatment at Arish general hospital. The victims are:

1- Wael Qadry Ahmed, 41, had two operations to remove shrapnel from his right hand.

2- Tharwat Khaled Muhsin Ali, 27, shrapnel to the face.

3- Mohamed Aiman Saleh, 26, break to the right leg.

 

The abduction of five civilians in two separate incidents in central Sinai

The abduction of civilians is a widespread recurring pattern of abuse in Sinai. ISIS group is used to abducting civilians and keeping them for long periods of time as part of a strategy it follows with the aim of asserting its dominance and punishing anyone it deems as supporters of the Egyptian authorities. It is worth mentioning that the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights documented during 2021 multiple civilian abductions and murders by ISIS who claimed that the civilians offered services to the military, as the group’s militants consider any service or help for security services to be hostile actions against the group. Such services include working on military construction projects or at military factories, as well as transporting supplies or fuel to military members in military ambushes in some volatile regions. For example, the foundation documented during December 2021 the abduction then murder of a civilian contractor with the excuse that he worked on a military construction project in Rafah, as well as the group killing a child in the same month, claiming that he provided military ambushes in central Sinai with food supplies.

 

The foundation team documented on 27 January 2022 members of the ISIS-affiliate Sinai Province group abducting two civilians from their workplace in a quarry in Maghara area in Hasanah city in central Sinai. They are:

1- Aiman Mohamed Abdelrehim, 37, resident of Faiyum governorate, works as a blacksmith in “Nour Eddin Zaki” marble quarry in Maghara area.

2- Atef Mohamed Mohamed Guhaa, 50, resident of Cairo, works as a driver in “Nour Eddin Zaki” marble quarry in Maghara area.

 

According to information acquired by the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights team, the incident took place near Mangam village in Hasanah, central Sinai at around 1 PM on 27 January 2022 when armed ISIS members stopped a small green civilian pickup truck the victims were riding on their way to buy food and items for the quarry. The militants stole the car at gunpoint, abducted the victims, and transported them to an unknown location. 

 

Mr. “Nour Eddin Zaki”, the quarry owner, made a report numbered 14 for the year 2022 at Hasanah police station on 7 February 2022, reporting the abduction of two workmen at his quarry. The victims’ families later received a call from the Egyptian military telling them the details of what happened, which led the families to make a police report on 28 February 2022. The foundation managed to acquire photocopies of the official incident reports.

 

The foundation team met with “Emad”, Aiman Mohamed Abdelrehim’s brother, who said:

“Aiman is 37, married and has three children. He was a blacksmith at a quarry in Hasanah. He has been working in North Sinai for 15 years. When he goes to Sinai, there is no cell coverage, and he returns every month and stays with us for a few days in Faiyum. He left three days before his abduction, and that was the last time we saw or heard from him. Around a month later, someone from the military called us and told us that Aiman and a colleague of his were taken with the car they were riding. We went to the police station and made a report. We don’t know anything since then. I ask the military and police to do anything and bring my brother back”.

Photo of Aiman Mohamed Abdelrehim

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​​​​​​​A similar incident was documented by the foundation team on 15 February 2022, when ISIS militants abducted three civilian workmen from Maghara area in central Sinai.

The foundation team met with the 46-year-old Walid Fathy Said Ahmed el-Helw’s brother, resident of El Senbellawein, Dakahlia, to get the details of what happened. He said: “Walid has been working with a contractor in North Sinai for seven years. The contractor was in charge of work for the military, and Walid only transported water and food supplies in his 4*4 for one of the military projects. On the day of the incident, Walid was at work and had his 7-year-old son Adam with him. Armed men showed up and took Walid but left his car and took one of Walid’s colleagues’ car. Walid’s son, Adam, witnessed the whole thing and he was so scared he hid under the car and Walid’s colleague is the one who brought him back to us. We reported his abduction at El Senbellawein police station, and they told us that since he was abducted in Arish, we had to go to Arish and report it there. We tried to go to Arish and were told we needed security clearance to be allowed into North Sinai since we don’t live there. We can’t even report his abduction, and no one is looking for him and letting us know what’s happening. We accept Allah’s plan, but we want to know if he’s alive or dead, and if they want a ransom, they should contact us. All our phones are on 24/7 and we shared our numbers on Facebook. We appealed to everyone we could appeal to, and no security authority has contacted us, and we can’t do anything”.

Picture of the three victims

The International Humanitarian Law prohibits strategized abductions and enforced disappearances. The United Nations declaration on enforced disappearances, unanimously approved, states that enforced disappearances are a violation of a range of rights, including the right to recognition as a person before the law, the right to liberty and personal security, the right not to be tortured or treated or punished in an inhuman or degrading way, and it also states that they violate the right to life, or pose a serious threat to it. The International Criminal Court also considers it to be “a crime against humanity”.