Whereabouts of arrested transport employees remain unknown

Wednesday 28-09-2016 06:04 PM

Photo: Aswat Masriya

CAIRO, Sept 28 (Aswat Masriya) - Family members of six employees at the Public Transport Authority who have been arrested ahead of a planned strike earlier this week will file a complaint at the general prosecutor as their relatives' whereabouts remain unknown.

The six employees were arrested early Saturday after a complaint was filed against them for inciting workers to strike, General Coordinator of the Center for Trade Unions and Workers Services Kamal Abbas said in a press conference on Wednesday.

The workers' family members, who attended the press conference, called for the release of their relatives. They said their relatives weren't intending to "hold a strike or demand their rights." They also denied any relation between their relatives and the Muslim Brotherhood or any terrorist organisations.

A news report published by Youm7 on Wednesday said the employees belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood and were accused of forming a terrorist cell aiming to incite strikes inside the Public Transport Authority. The investigations, according to the report, revealed the defendants were planning to disrupt transportation on the first day of school.

Ayman Abdel-Tawab, one of the six employees, was last seen by his wife Amal Hassan at around 7 am on Saturday as he left to the hospital to check up on a leg injury. Amal said she had all the medical documents that prove her claims, saying her husband's medical condition wouldn't have allowed him to take part in the strike.

"He wasn't going to take part in the strike. He always said that we should follow the right paths in order to achieve our demands. We can't strike and negatively affect our country," Hassan said.

She said that she followed the legal procedures and waited for 24 hours before attempting to file a complaint at the police station over her husband's disappearance, but the police officials rejected, saying he wasn't "mentally challenged," and would return on his own.

Sayeda Mohamed, wife of Mohamed Hashem, another employee who was also arrested, said her husband had already decided he won't take part in the strike. She told Aswat Masriya that a lawyer called her, as well as the rest of the families of the detainees, and informed them their relatives were detained for 15 days pending investigations. She, however, couldn't verify this information.

"We went to Hadayek El Kobba police station, but they denied he was at the station and told us he was detained by the National Security," Mohamed said.

Mohamed, who is pregnant and was at her mother's house when Hashem was arrested, denied the news reports that said her husband and the rest of the detainees belonged to a terrorist organisation, saying her family voted for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the 2014 elections and have his picture hanged on the walls of their house.

Sister of Tarek Mohamed Youssef said that chairman of the Public Transport Authority General Rizk Abo Ali knows her brother's whereabouts. "He told me 'your brother eats and sleeps well, you should only worry if they called you and if they killed him you'll know his location'," Abo Ali said according to Youssef's sister.

Aswat Masriya couldn't reach Abo Ali for comment.

Head of the Independent Union for Public Transport Workers Magdy Hassan said there should be no charges or a case against the workers since the strike didn't take place. He condemned the arrests saying they need to know the whereabouts of the workers and the charges they are facing so they can defend them.

The strikes' initial demands were including the Public Transport Authority under the supervision of the ministry of transport, increasing the infection allowance and receiving full pay for official holidays among others.

Hassan said that he agreed with the head of the transport authority that families of the six detainees would receive their relatives' salaries.

Human rights activist Kamal Abbas of the National Council for Human Rights said the disappearances directly contravene the principles and provisions of Egypt's constitution and law.

According to the constitution, those detained have the right to contact their family within 12 hours of arrest.

"We filed a complaint at the public prosecutor demanding launching an urgent investigation into the disappearances, but we haven't received a reply from the prosecution," Abbas said.

"Whoever talks about the constitution and the rule of law is talking about another country," he added.

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