Egypt detains alleged rape victim’s mother

Egypt has ordered the detention of a mother who came out about her daughter’s disappearance and rape at the hands of security officials in a BBC documentary.

Egyptian Attorney General Nabil Sadiq ordered Muna Mohammed’s detention for 15 days on the grounds that she “fabricated the story that the security services tortured her daughter Zubeida Ibrahim Yousef”.

The prosecution charged Zubeida’s mother with “publishing and broadcasting false news that would harm the national interests of the country and join a group established contrary to the provisions of the law, which is intended to call for the disobeying of the constitution and laws on the personal freedom of citizens, damage national unity, social cohesion.”

Last week, the BBC published a report entitled “The Shadow Over Egypt” which included interviews with families of alleged victims of torture and enforced disappearances.

Read: Egypt must halt arbitrary arrests of opposition

The report highlighted the case of 23-year-old Zubeida who, her mother claimed, had been subjected to enforced disappearance and rape by security forces and who is still missing.

Yesterday a lawsuit was filed demanding BBC reporter Orla Guerin be expelled from Egypt in response to the report which “contains lies and allegations”.