Egypt’s youngest detainee: 14-month-old girl arrested

Egyptian authorities arrested on Saturday an Egyptian citizen, his wife and her brother, and their 14-month-old baby daughter from the Giza train station located in the south of the capital Cairo, the Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF) revealed yesterday.

“Even infants have not escaped enforced disappearance in Egypt,” ECRF said on Facebook.

Abdullah Mohamed Mudar Moussa, his wife, Fatima Mohammed Diaa El-Din Moussa, their toddler Alia, and Fatima’s brother, Omar Mohammed Diaa El-Din Moussa, were arrested from the Giza train station as they were heading back home in Egypt’s southern province of Assiut, according to ECRF.

Alia, the rights organisation added, is the youngest national to be arrested by the security forces since the Egyptian authorities adopted the enforced disappearance policy following the military coup which took place on 3 July 2013.

Read: Egypt detains alleged rape victim’s mother

Eyewitnesses told ECRF that hours after the family’s arrest, security forces stormed their home at dawn on Sunday.

The detainees’ relatives also reported that they had not been able to communicate with them since their arrest.

Moussa’s parents filed a complaint with the country’s Attorney General to no avail.