Egyptian intellectuals issue a statement against the arrest of a poet and the disappearance of a young writer

Bassem Magdy-Cairo

The security grip of the regime of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has affected all Egyptian communities, including students, activists, journalists, lawyers and even intellectuals.

A number of Egyptian intellectuals issued a statement on social media in protest against the arrest of the poet Amina Abdullah in the downtown area and the disappearance of the writer Mohamed Alaa El-Din in Dokki district in Cairo.

The statement said Amina Abdullah was arrested while passing by her home on Saturday (September 21st) in the midst of successive events in the country, while Aladdin disappeared as soon as he came home from his home days later.

The statement added that despite taking all legal procedures to determine the fate of each of them, the relevant bodies did not provide any statements.

The signatories of the statement demanded the intellectuals and writers of Egypt competent authorities to immediately disclose the whereabouts of the poet and writer, and called on the Union of Writers Union and the Ministry of Culture to play their role in the protection of intellectuals.

Some 340 intellectuals signed the statement, including prominent writers such as the great writer Ibrahim Abdel-Majid, writer Abla Al-Ruwaini, Mohammed Mustajab, Tarek Imam, Nael Al-Toukhi, the scriptwriter Hisham Hilal and others.

The signatories demanded that the media not interpret their statement, misinterpret its statement or use it as an excuse to attack them.

A number of intellectuals circulated the statement on their Facebook pages to collect more signatures, as re-published by former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi.

Writers' Union refuses to intervene
The last thing the poet wrote on her Facebook page was that she denied demonstrations in downtown Cairo on Friday night before her arrest, that she was against chaos and against an alliance with political Islam.

The daughter of the poet Batoul al-Haddad continues to search for her mother's whereabouts. She condemned the refusal of the president of the Egyptian Writers Union Alaa Abdel Hadi to intervene in the crisis of arresting her mother or sending lawyers.

Her husband Hossam al-Haddad also criticized the position of the Writers Union. Abdullah and win the voices of her friends, we have a meeting soon. "

The poet was arrested in arbitrary arrests in the streets of Cairo following demonstrations on Friday (September 20th), when she was abducted in front of her home in downtown Cairo and transferred to the State Security Prosecution in Montenegro.

Mohamed Alaa is forcibly disappeared
Friends of the writer, Mohamed Alaeddine, have been active on social media in writing leaflets calling for the search for the disappeared writer.

The writer condemned the arrest of Alaa al-Din, saying that if he was in a democratic state, he would have been interested in his talent, but in Egypt, where "this is how Sisi sponsors talented young people."

Journalist Ramy Yehia commented on his Facebook page:

Intellectuals reprinted their statement in Arabic and English under the title "Freedom for Egyptian Writers" on the Change website, to collect more signatures.

Aladdin is one of the most prominent young writers, and has published several novels and stories, the most important of which are "The Gospel of Adam", "Day 22" and "The Secret Life of Citizen M."

The campaign of arrests over the past few days has included a large number of Egyptian intellectuals, academics, jurists and lawyers, including Dr. Hassan Nafaa, Khaled Dawoud and Mahinour Al Masri and the re-arrest of the activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, as well as members of political parties, students and hundreds of citizens.