Egypt: Release of Dr Ashraf Abdel Ghaffar after 5 months arbitrary detention

24 Nov 2009
At 1am on 20 November 2009, Security services released Dr Ashraf Abdel Ghaffar along with Khaled al-Sayed al-Beltagy and Ahmad Ali Abbas. Their release brings to a close the case of the "International Organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood" following the release of all 25 members of this group. Alkarama had previously submitted Dr Ghaffar's individual case to the Special Rapporteur (SRT) on Torture on 5 August 2009 and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) on 27 October 2009, in the context of 112 Muslim Brotherhood members detained by Egyptian authorities between April and August 2009.

Reminder

On 3 July 2009, en route to his son's wedding in Turkey, Dr Ghaffar was arbitrarily arrested at Cairo airport and held for four days before being transferred to al-Marg prison. Held by State Security forces at Cairo airport, he spent the first 48 hours incommunicado, during which he was forced to sit in a chair without food or water - and prevented from taking his prescription medicine to treat his hepatitis C.

Dr Ashraf Abdel Ghaffar is the Vice-Secretary General of the Egyptian Medical Association and is a Rapporteur for the Cairo based Human Relief Agency. He has been targeted by the Egyptian authorities for his work as a union and community leader and is accused of belonging to the "International Organisation of the Muslim Brotherhood".

Egypt
Arbitrary Detention