The Case of a Missing Egyptian Journalist

Dr Saad Eddin Ibrahim
- 2000

Rida Hillal was a prominent Egyptian journalist. By his mid-forties, Dr. Hillal had already authored eight books and rose to be the associate Chief Editor of the Arabic daily newspaper, Al-Ahram. In August 2003, Mr. Hillal was reported missing from his home in a Cairo suburb. There was an initial flurry of curiosity, media coverage, and police search to resolve the mysterious disappearance. But what appeared shortly after was a concerted official media silence which prevailed for the next ten months. On the first anniversary of his disappearance the many notorious Egyptian security agencies are still silent over the issue.

In a highly conspiratorial Middle Eastern environmental, rumors and theories of Hillal’s disappearance mushroomed in all directions. Having been an American-based correspondent for Al-Ahram, earlier in his career, Mr. Hillal was considered an expert on U.S affairs. Six of his books were on American society and culture. The last book was on the rise of the Christian Right and the Neo-Conservatives. Given the growing anti-American sentiments during and in the aftermath of the war in Iraq, one theory points the finger of accusation at US secret agents operating in Egypt. Curiously, another theory is the exact opposite?pointing the finger at pro-Saddam elements. Israeli and Libyan intelligence agencies were also among the suspects.

Compounding the mystery of the missing journalist are several elements. First, the number, size and experience of Egyptian security services warrant a closure of the case one way or another. Instead, there were contradictory official reports initially, and then abrupt silence. Second, the notoriously outspoken Egyptian Press Syndicate has not issued a single statement over the disappearance of one of its prominent members. Nor for that matter has his own newspaper, Al-Ahram, kept up an active investigation.

Ten years earlier, in December1993, a similar episode took place also in Cairo. This was the case of Mansour El Kekhia, former Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs and later an opposition figure to Libya’s strongman Mu’amar Qaddafi. Eyewitnesses at the time reported that he was abducted by three men in a black limousine with diplomatic license plate a few yards from the Cairo Hotel Safir where he was staying. Again, the case has remained a mystery. Neither the Egyptian nor the Libyan authorities have issued reports or claimed responsibility regarding this forced disappearance eleven years ago.

The striking similarity between the Rida and Kekhia cases has raised widespread suspicion about the involvement of high ranking Egyptian officials. The recent arrest in London of a highly respected Egyptian engineer, Professor Momdouh Hamza, has implicated four top Egyptian officials with close ties to the Mubarak family and re-opened the rumor mill in Cairo. For years Egyptians have heard of forced disappearance of public figures elsewhere in the region (e.g. Iraq, Syria and Libya) but not their own. Now Egypt seems to have joined those crass dictatorships. At least until the case of the missing journalist Rida Hillal is resolved, the Mubarak regime will remain suspect in the eyes of the Egyptian public and many human rights organizations at home and abroad.