An official security source in the Ministry of Interior has denied online accusations that the ministry had anything to do with the disappearance and alleged kidnap of activist Mahmoud Shaaban, a member of the ElBaradei campaign.

The source said that the ministry does not take any illegal action against political activists or any other Egyptian citizens. He stressed that no citizen is arrested without a prior warrant signed by a prosecutor and only in cases where people violate the law. In all cases, the source added, a record of the arrest and its causes have to be filed and then handed over to prosecutors.

Finally, the source said that the ministry is following new policies in the aftermath ofthe January 25 revolution, which are based on abiding by the law and respect for human rights.

Shaaban has alleged that two days ago, two unknown men kidnapped him from the street in his hometown of Alexandria. He said that the kidnappers blindfolded him, and then led him away to an unspecied location.

There, he says, an officer who he believed belonged to the formally dismantled State Security Intelligence interrogated him for several hours about his involvement in the campaign supporting presidential hopeful Mohamed ElBaradei.

Shaaban said that the officer told him that State Security is still in operation and will continue haunting activists as it did during the years of ousted president Hosni Mubarak.

Finally, after nine hours, Shaaban says that his alleged kidnappers dumped him handcuffed in the desert on the outskirts of the city.