Egypt denies it abducted former lawmaker Mustafa el-Nagar

Egypt denies it abducted former lawmaker Mustafa el-Nagar
The denial comes on the heels of el-Nagar's wife charging authorities with arresting her husband on 27 September.
1 min read
19 October, 2018
Sisi gives a speech after speaking with military officers [Getty]

The Egyptian government has denied it abducted a former lawmaker, after his wife charged authorities with detaining him. 

A statement by the State Information Service on Thursday categorically denied that Mustafa el-Nagar has been detained. Instead, it described him as a fugitive from a three-year prison sentence upheld this week by the country's top appeals court following his conviction along with some two dozen others of insulting the judiciary.

"The rumors about his forced disappearance are totally unfounded," it said.

In a request for information sent to Egypt's top prosecutors, el-Nagar's wife, Shaymaa Afifi, said he went missing on 27 September while travelling to the southern city of Aswan. She said an unknown person informed her by telephone last week that police arrested her husband.

Since 2013, international human rights groups have criticised Sisi's government for cracking down on secular and left-wing activists, as well as Islamists close to the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

Rights groups have condemned Egypt's human rights record under President Sisi.

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