
Soldiers in military vehicles proceed towards al-Jura district in El-Arish city from Sheikh Zuwaid (Photo: Reuters)
An administrative court on Tuesday ordered President Mohamed Morsi, the prime minister, minister of interior, minister of defense, and the head of the Egyptian General Intelligence to disclose the circumstances of the abduction of four police personnel in the Sinai Peninsula on 4 February 2011.
The lawsuit was filed by Doaa Rashad, the wife of abductee Mohamed Mostafa El-Gohary. More than two years after the abduction, the kidnapped men are still missing.
Earlier this month, a member of the militant Al-Qaeda group was detained by the state security apparatus and accused of kidnapping the police officers in 2011.
According to investigations by state security, the detained suspect Mohamed Abdel-Halim Hemeida Saleh escaped from an Egyptian prison during the January 2011 revolution, when a number of prisons were broken into.
Saleh, according to the state security prosecutor, planned and executed the abduction of the four police officers.
Saleh is currently detained to face trial for the charges of abducting the police officers, as well as other crimes.
The security situation in Sinai has deteriorated considerably since 2011, with a number of attacks on police or military personnel taking place.
In May 2013, seven Egyptian security officials were kidnapped in the Sinai Peninsula; an army conscript and six police personnel. The soldiers were later released unharmed.
Short link: