Germany investigates disappeared citizens in Egypt

dual German-Egyptian citizen Mahmoud Abdel Aziz was deported for “attempting to join terrorist Isis groups in Sinai”, where the army has been trying to put down an armed insurgency.

Abdel Aziz, the 23-year-old student was detained upon arrival in Cairo from Saudi Arabia on 27 December, according to his family who denied the accusations.

Separately, a second man, Isa El Sabbagh from the northern German city of Giessen remains in Egyptian custody. El Sabbagh went missing on December 17. His whereabouts remained unknown until Egyptian authorities announced that he was in their custody on January 10.

El Sabbagh has disappeared before he was scheduled to take a domestic flight from Luxor to Cairo to visit his grandfather, according to his father.

Since October, at least 40 human rights workers, lawyers and activists have been arrested or disappeared, according to Human Rights Watch