Mubarak-era minister of interior Habib Al-Adli has disappeared. According to a statement issued by the Interior Ministry on 15 May, Al-Adli was not at his house in 6 October city when police arrived to arrest him to begin serving a seven-year prison sentence, reports Gamal Essam El-Din. The Interior Ministry officially notified the Central Cairo Prosecution Authority that “security forces were not able to arrest Al-Adli because he was not at his home in the Sheikh Zayed district.” Al-Adli was due to appear before Cairo Criminal Court the next day — 16 May — as part of his appeal against the seven-year prison sentence handed down in a corruption case. On 15 April Cairo Criminal Court found Al-Adli and his co-defendants guilty of embezzling LE2 billion from the Interior Ministry between 2000 and 2011. Al-Adli's lawyer Farid Al-Deeb claims his client has been hospitalised. “We have hopes that Al-Adli will be able to appear when the Cassation Court begins its own hearing of the appeal,” Al-Deeb said. Al-Deeb said he had submitted a medical report to the court explaining his client is undergoing treatment at a Cairo hospital due to ongoing health problems. The Interior Ministry, however, said that “since the 15 April ruling we have collaborated with Central Cairo Prosecution on detaining Al-Adli so he can begin serving his sentence. Our efforts, however, were unsuccessful and we have officially notified the Central Cairo Prosecution Office that Al-Adli should be now considered a fugitive.” Al-Adli was tried along with 12 former Interior Ministry officials who received sentences of between three and seven years. Two further defendants died during the course of the trial. The convicted were also ordered to repay millions of pounds in illegal gains and hefty fines. Al-Adli, who served as interior minister between 1997 and 2011, was dismissed after protests erupted against former president Mubarak in January 2011. He was put on trial alongside Mubarak and other senior officials in August 2011 on charges of manslaughter and corruption. In 2014 Al-Adli and six of his senior aides were acquitted of charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during the 2011 January uprising. Questioned for 10 hours on 19 May Al-Adli's wife Ilham Sharshar, a former Al-Ahram journalist, denied knowing the whereabouts of her husband. “I have no idea where he is. I was not in Cairo when the verdict was issued against him or when he disappeared,” Sharshar told prosecution officials. She insisted, however, that Al-Adli had not fled the country. “Right now only my husband's lawyer is allowed to issue reports about his condition but at the right time I will reveal all the facts,” Sharshar told journalists. Al-Adli's lawyer Al-Deeb, who also represents Mubarak, denied in a TV interview that Al-Adli had been placed under house. “Security forces had been deployed around the house in 6 October to protect him against any assassination attempts,” said Al-Deeb. According to his lawyer, Al-Adli's health began to deteriorate after he was handed the seven-year sentence. “When he heard the verdict on 15 April he suffered a stroke and was unable to move,” said Al-Deeb. “As a result his relatives admitted him to a private hospital for treatment.” The mystery surrounding Al-Adli's whereabouts has caused controversy in parliamentary and political circles. MP Mustafa Bakri demanded an explanation for the disappearance and called on Interior Minister Magdi Abdel-Ghaffar to take steps to find the fugitive. Bakri told reporters Al-Adli fled house arrest to avoid serving his seven-year sentence and must have been aided in his escape by officials. Bakri accused the Interior Ministry of not taking any serious steps to arrest Al-Adli and told journalists the evidence pointed to “someone” helping the former minister evade justice. “The Interior Ministry allowed Al-Adli to go free even after the court sentenced him to seven years in prison on 15 April,” said Bakri. “Despite the seven-year prison sentence against him and despite tight security measures around his house since 15 April Al-Adli managed to leave home before he was due to be detained.” According to Bakri, “Al-Adli fled his house some time ago.” “The fact he did not show up at the Criminal Court to discuss his appeal against the seven-year verdict leaves no doubt that someone helped him escape”. Bakri has filed a request with Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal seeking answers about Al-Adli's disappearance from current Interior Minister Magdi Abdel-Ghaffar and demanding all steps are taken to detain Al-Adli as soon as possible. Bakri told journalists that he had also demanded parliament's Defence and National Security Committee hold an urgent meeting to discuss how Al-Adli was able to leave his house and to determine “who might have helped him escape arrest”. Kamal Ammar, head of parliament's Defence and National Security Committee, told journalists that “it is too early to hold a meeting on Al-Adli's disappearance.” “The ministry says it is doing its best to arrest him and we hope it will succeed,” said Ammar.
