Death threats against Egyptian blogger’s family

by Scott Gilbreath ~ November 16th, 2008

Egyptian State Security Investigation officers took writer-blogger Reda Abdel Rahman into custody last month and have detained him at an undisclosed location.  His mother and two sister asked officials where they are keeping him, but the request was not well received.

Mr Abdel Rahman belongs to a controversial religious sect called the Quranics, who believe that the Quran is the only source of faith.  The International Quranic Center has issued a statement detailing his family’s ordeal at the hands of police.

Abdel Rahman wrote at his blog last July that he had been interrogated and intimidated about articles he had published online.

The International Quranic Center believes the arrest is part of an ongoing campaign to terrorise Egyptian Quranics

An Egyptian internet writer and blogger still detained and his family is threaten to be killed

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The mother and two sisters of the Egyptian blogger and Internet writer Reda Abdul Rahman were threaten to be killed, when they tried to ask state security agents about the whereabouts of Abdul Rahman, who was kidnapped last month by State Security Investigation.

The mother of Mr. Redda Abdel-Rahman Ali, and her two daughters (Azza, and Hebba), went to the center of the State Security forces and tried to meet the officer in charge, who attacked the mother and her daughters and insulted her with the most brutal and filthy language.

According to a statement issued by the International Quranic Center, an NGO concerned with people who believe in Holy Qran as the only source of faith, known as Quranics:

He [the officer in charge] then ordered his troops to point their guns towards them and threatened them with death if they do not leave the place immediately, he himself drew his gun and pointed it at them with the same threats. He also threatened one of the daughters that he would arrest her and get her kicked out of her university. His troops followed his orders and pushed and shoved the mother and both her daughters out of the building, committing in the process some sexual harassment to all of them,
Abdel Rahman, 32, is a social worker at a Religious Institute affiliated to Al-Azhar. He is a member of Ahmed Sobhi Mansour’s family. Mansour is considered as a God Father of Quranists.

Abdel Rahman was arrested last October, police picked him from his house to unknown place, and confiscated his computer and a number of CDs that were in his apartment.

On his web blog Justice-Freedom-Peace he wrote last July that he was interrogated at Al-Azhar Sheikdom Legal Affairs Department regarding his articles and that he was put under pressure to force him to sign a confession that he will not publish such articles or any other religious material in the future.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, an independent Egyptian NGO,
called on the Interior Ministry to release Abdel Rahma. The Initiative said it got information that Abdel Rahman was deprived of food in prison. In a complaint to the Egyptian public prosecutor two days ago, the Initiative requested the Interior Ministry to announce where Abdel Rahman is arrested and to let him contact his defense and relatives.

The International Holy Quran Center described Abdel Rahman’s arrest as “continuous policy to terrorize the Quran people in Egypt”.

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