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Arish…random arrests, detention and torture:
Stop the tragedy
23/11/2004
1. Background to the events
On the 7th October 2004 three bombs exploded one after the other in Taba, Devil's Head and Nuweiba. According to figures given by the Egyptian security forces five Egyptians and twenty three Israelis were killed, 135 injured and 30 are still unaccounted for. The Egyptian - Israeli border between Taba and Eilat was opened to allow the passage of Israeli victims.
Opinion differed the next morning as to who was responsible for the bombings, some pointing the finger at Al Qaeda or Palestinian groups - both of which denied responsibility. Others claimed that Hamas was behind the events. It was alleged that Palestinians had crossed the border via an underground tunnel used to smuggle weapons from Egypt into Palestine . An Interior Ministry representative also made statements to Al Ahram newspaper in which he claimed that the cars used in the explosions came from inside the country.
The newspaper also reports that according to a prominent Ministry employee investigations have made clear that those who carried out the bombings concealed half a ton of TNT high explosive underneath grocery crates in the car which exploded outside the hotel in Taba. Three groups have announced their responsibility for the bombings; Jamaa, the Islamic Unity Group and the Abdallah Azam Corps which latter has confirmed links with Al Qaeda. Supporting this view is al Hayat's opinion that all the given facts point to the involvement to a strong, knowledgeable and tightly-knit organisation. According to an Egyptian source the explosive power of the bomb was enough to destroy the whole building, but the reinforced concrete used in the construction of the hotel prevented this from happening.
However, on the 26th October, in contradiction with these theories the Interior Ministry released a statement announcing the arrest of five men suspected of involvement in the bombings. The text of the statement read as follows:
Within the framework of the security forces' continued and concentrated efforts since the Taba hotel and Devil's Head camping ground incidents on the 7th October, intelligence about, and investigations into the planning and carrying out of this plan confirm that Iyad Salah, a Palestinian living in Arish and certain elements with which he has links are responsible. The bombings were a reaction to the deterioration of the situation in the occupied territories, and targeted Israelis staying in the hotel and at the camping ground. In collaboration with the other suspects Iyad Salah prepared for the bombings by stealing three cars and equipping them with leftover war material. They prepared the materials in a local workshop and fitted a timing device used in washing machines which is widely available for sale. Iyad Said Salah Taleb Mohamed was killed in the explosion and his identity confirmed by DNA analysis of his remains. A driver from Arish, Salah was involved in groups with a bad reputation and had previously committed several crimes the last of which was the rape of a girl in a car he was driving. He had recently turned to religious extremism.
Three Bedouins from Sinai are alleged to have taken part in the bombings:
1. Suleiman Ahmed Salah Falifil who died in the explosion outside the Taba hotel alongside Iyad Salah.
His identity was confirmed through DNA analysis of his remains.
2. Mohamed Ahmed Salah Falifil, an agricultural worker and the brother of Suleiman.
3. Gumaan Gumaa Gumaan Tarabiss, a driver from north Sinai.
The three were known to be involved in illegal activity.
Those involved in the planning of the bombings were identified as:
1. Mohamed Ahmed al Sowariky, resident in Arish. A stolen car dealer.
2. Ihab Mahmoud Eid Musbah, employed in an electrical parts shop. From Hayy al Musaaid, Arish, he stole one of the cars used in the bombing.
3. Hamdan Salama Salem al Ahmar, of Arab origin from south Sinai. Owner of a camping ground who provided information about the campers who would subsequently be targeted.
4. Mohamed Gayez Sabah Hussein, an employee with the Irrigation Department from north Sinai. Owns an electrical appliances repair shop. He prepared cars with explosives and timing devices.
5. Mohamed Abdallah Ribaa Suleiman Abdallah, owner of a metal workshop from north Sinai who checked the explosives in the three cars.
Intelligence also demonstrates that the bombings were not intended to be suicide bombings since Iyad Salah and Suleiman Falfil died while after they had got out of the car packed with explosives and were trying to flee the scene. They were prevented from doing so because of a fault in the timing device.
There is a marked disparity between the Interior Ministry's account of the bombings and statements made by members of the Interior Ministry which all stated that they were carried out by trained members of an organised group who used large amounts of TNT explosives.
Aims of the fact-finding mission
The mission aimed to investigate and identify alleged human rights violations in Arish. EOHR has been informed by its members that Arish inhabitants have been subject to various forms of human rights violations. The mission was sent at the beginning of November 2004 and met by EOHR member Ashraf Ayoub. He accompanied them to the headquarters of the Tagamaa political party where prominent intellectuals were staging a sit-in in protest at the indiscriminate mass arrests. The police had begun to seal off the Tagamaa headquarters preventing people from joining the sit-in.
While the mission was in the headquarters they were presented with a complaint from a man who said that while he and a female colleague wearing the niqab (full veil covering the face) were in Arish near the al Rifaei Mosque, a member of the security forces attempted to forcibly remove the niqab leading to a verbal altercation between the two men. All those involved in the sit-in confirmed the spread of such incidents after the bombings in addition to indiscriminate mass arrests and detention, police raids, house searches and intimidation of residents.
The mission also listened to the accounts given by the Tagamma Party leadership, the Arish branch of the Nasserite Party and members of the Youth Committee for Citizens' Rights. Ashraf Ibrahim, a member of the Youth Committee confirmed that more than 3,000 residents of Arish and neighbouring villages have been arrested in police operations and that it is not known where they are being detained.
During a public meeting in north Sinai, People's Assembly member Mohamed Kashef and Shura Council member Abdel Hamid Selmy both condemned the mass arrests and detention. General Ahmed Abdel Hamid, Governor of north Sinai demanded that security forces stop arresting women and ease up on investigations of this kind but added that the investigations taking place in Arish seek to allow the security forces to arrive at the truth.
3 Meetings with the relatives of detainees and eyewitnesses
The mission heard the testimony of the relatives of people who had been arrested and of eyewitnesses who confirmed that security forces presence in Arish increased in the aftermath of the bombings. On the 13th October mass arrests began, women and children being detained as pawns to force men to turn themselves in. This is in addition to the police breaking into houses and, in certain cases, destroying their contents. The security forces intimidate Arish inhabitants during searches for suspects and where they do not find the individual in question they indiscriminately arrest anyone who crosses their path. Their appearance further increases the terror that these security forces groups induce, as they appear dressed entirely in black and give the impression of being members of an Israeli gang.
Eyewitnesses agreed that indiscriminate arrest was so common as to make them scared to leave their homes. For example, during a police hunt for one of the wanted men who was said to be driving a red car more than nineteen owners of red cars were arrested.
The mission heard many accounts of random arrests and houses being stormed. In addition the majority of those arrested were black. They were detained under detention orders issued by powers granted to the executive authorities under the Emergency Law.
Testimony of the relatives of individuals arrested
Relatives of Mohamed Abdallah Ribaa (one of the suspected men)
Ribaa's mother stated "They arrested my son on Friday 22nd October 2004. We weren't at home at the time; we were out breaking the fast. When we went back home we found out that he had been arrested. The front door of the flat was broken at the hinges."
Members of the mission verified that the door was indeed broken. When they were about to go upstairs she said to them: "I want to tell you something, my son Mohamed never did anything or hurt anyone in his life. He just bought a new lathe for his workshop and has instalments to pay on it, and he has five kids…Ask anyone about him, he never did anything in his life, or his brother Ismail. I don't understand why they arrested him."
The wife of the suspect's brother
"I was returning home after visiting a neighbour and came across a beige Cherokee car and other cars which I couldn't see properly because it was dark. Men wearing black with their faces covered got out of the cars. At first I thought they were criminals. I then saw what I thought to be torches but which turned out to be guns. I was terrified because I thought they were Israelis. I went into my house and screamed when they started shouting at me. When they spoke in Arabic and said that they were from the Government I calmed down a bit. I had entered the house but the door was still open and my sister-in-law (Linda Abdel Aaty) wasn't wearing her veil so she closed the door while she covered herself. But they broke the door and it hit her in the eye. They came into the house and my husband and cousin started arguing with them. One of them punched him in the face and forced them to lie down on the ground.
I can't say exactly how many police officers and soldiers there were exactly but there were lots of them, surrounding the house and on its roof and on the roofs of surrounding houses. There was one officer of a high rank sitting in the Cherokee who I remember said, as they were leaving, 'each section go to your car.'"
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