Committee denies secret prisons rumors in Egypt

CAIRO – 3 May 2019: On the sidelines of the 64^th edition of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR), Councilor Hany George, head of the General Directorate of Human Rights in the Office of the Attorney General, has denied rumors about secret prisons in Egypt.

He stressed that the general prosecution can inspect any crime scene and that no place is fortified against the prosecution’s authority.

Egyptian Councilor Ihab Abdel Aaty and member of the delegation to the ACHPR has further said the Egyptian state has taken many necessary measures to protect workers in the exercise of their labor rights, ensure freedom of trade union activities, and ban dissolving trade union organizations without a verdict.

Egypt's has submitted its human rights record over the course of 2001 to 2017 to the ACHPR.

George has also stressed that the general prosecution is fully ready to check any allegations of enforced disappearance.

“We began ourselves investigating these allegations even without receiving reports. According to the Egyptian Constitution, no one may be subjected to enforced disappearance, not to mention that this is criminalized by the penal code,” George added. “The judicial system in Egypt is deeply rooted in Egyptian civilization and cannot tolerate enforced disappearance.”

He also added that such allegations are untrue as most of them are the result of joining a terrorist group or illegal immigration.