Egyptian protesters shout slogans against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the governmen
Egyptian protesters shout slogans against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the governmenReuters

Amnesty International (AI) is accusing Egyptian security forces of abducting and torturing hundreds of people over the past year.

The missing people, some only 14 years old, were reportedly kept imprisoned for months, and many were bound and blindfolded the whole time.

The Egyptian government has denied the allegations, and Interior Minister Magdy Abdul Ghaffar insists [new word] that the security services follow Egyptian law.

President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has been cracking down protesters since the military overthrew Mohammed Morsi in 2013. In the past three years, government forces have killed over a thousand people and jailed over 40,000.

Philip Luther, AI's director for the Middle East and North Africa, says that disappearances are a "key instrument of state policy" under Sisi and Ghaffar.

The report notes that an average of three or four people are taken away each day. Hundreds of the detainees are believed to be held at the Interior Ministry.

It also describes extended cooperation between security services and the judicial system. As Luther explained, the latter is "prepared to lie to cover their tracks or failed to investigate torture allegations, making them complicit in serious human rights violations."