Turkish brothers missing in Cairo

Two Turkish students disappeared after being arrested by Egyptian police early on Sunday morning at their residence in Cairo, according to the London-based Arab Organisation for Human Rights (AOHR).

According to the complaint filed by the family of the two brothers, Mucahit and Cihat Kirtoklu, both 21, the pair was forcibly disappeared in Egypt after being arrested and taken to an unknown location.

Hikmet Kirtoklu, their father, told AOHR that his sons were studying Arabic in Egypt before starting their studies in Al-Azhar University. He added that he received a phone call from one of his sons’ colleagues who informed him they had been arrested at 3am on 14 February.

Egyptian security sources have confirmed that the Interior Minister Magdy Abdel Ghaffar issued strict instructions to all the ministry’s departments to immediately inform him once any foreigner is arrested in Egypt. He said that he would personally follow up on the matter. This came following the disappearance of Italian student, Giulio Regeni, who was later found dead with signs of torture.

Egypt’s Masrawy news quoted security sources saying the minister also asked for the files of those who were wanted so he can review the details of the arrests and the charges against them.