CAIRO: Two NGOs are demanding that an immediate inquiry be launched into the disappearance of a university student who has been missing for over a year. The Association for Human Rights Legal Aid (AHRLA) and the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) say that dentistry student Mohamed Said Abdo Turk from Beheira disappeared in July 2009. In a statement, the NGOs say that Turk's father has “informally learnt” that his son is being detained in a state security investigations facility in Damanhour. On the evening of July 6, 2009 Turk went for a walk by the Nile in Rosetta when, the statement says, “the city was crawling with security preparing for the forthcoming presidential visit on July 30, 2009”. The two organizations say that there are “strong indications” that Turk is being held by state security investigations because in April 2009 he was called in by security bodies against “a background of his activities in support of the Palestinian people”. “We are deeply worried that this case will become one of the many cases of forced disappearance committed by the Egyptian Ministry of Interior,” the statement says. “It is a common practice of state security investigations to arrest and detain citizens without giving reasons for their detention and without any charges being filed against them or even their families being notified”.
