A Shiite journalist working for Egypt’s Al-Dostor newspaper has gone missing, and his family believes he was detained during a recent security campaign targeting the Shiite minority, his wife, Asmaa Al-Nashar, told Al Manassa.
Haidar Kandil reportedly disappeared on Monday, In a Facebook post, his brother Yusuff wrote that “a force from the National Security Sector arrested my brother in front of the Al-Dostor newspaper offices in the Dokki district, and it remains unknown where he was taken.”
Detailing her husband’s disappearance, Asmaa Al-Nashar said: “The last time he was at Al-Dostor, he was at work. He asked for permission to go downstairs to buy something, and he left all his equipment and everything there. He took his phone with him and never came back.”
Al Nashar presented her husband’s detention as all but certain, telling Al Manassa that he had previously been arrested on security-related charges alongside other Shiites.
She described the lack of information regarding Haidar’s whereabouts as “terrifying.”
Journalist Iman Adel had been in constant contact with Haidar throughout the previous day, which saw multiple arrests of Egyptian Shiites ahead of the Ashura commemorations, including his sister’s husband, a New Zealand national, Adel said in Facebook post.
She noted that he was documenting the number of detainees and that they held an encrypted call that evening before he suddenly disappeared.
This was not the first time Haidar has been detained, she added, noting he previously spent eight months in prison. Adel urged authorities to reveal his whereabouts for the sake of his family, who have been in distress since his disappearance.
A Facebook page titled “Shiites in Egypt” described the arrests as part of ongoing restrictions and expressed concern over the continued pressure on Shiite citizens due to their religious affiliation.
The Shiite community in Egypt criticized Egyptian authorities for “repeatedly closing the Imam Hussein Shrine during Shiite religious occasions,” questioning the motive behind the closures and calling for an end to “discriminatory measures” while affirming their constitutional right to worship and visit religious sites.
