1. Personal Information
A. Birth: Mr. Bu Madian was born on December 12th, 2005. He was arrested at the age of 12.

B. Growing up: Mr. Bu Madian grew up in a neighborhood in El Arish, North Sinai. A few days before his arrest, his father was arrested as well for joining ISIS, Additionally, his older brother, who had indeed joined the group, was extrajudicially killed. In addition to the arrest of his two sisters: Ms.Maryam Bu Madian and Ms.Fatima Bu Madian because their husbands belonged to the terrorist group ISIS on June 30th, 2022, and the authorities recently released them in January 2024.

C. Occupation: Mr. Bu Madian is a seventh-grade student.

D. Activities/ Political Affiliation: Mr. Bu Madian had no political activities or affiliations. Since childhood, he was passionate about painting and dreamed of becoming a painter.

E. Under the Spotlight:
– Mr. Bu Madian came under the spotlight when he was arrested at the age of 12 and taken as a hostage to pressure his brother, Mr. Abdel Rahman Bu Madian, to surrender himself to the Egyptian authorities. Sympathy with the child, Abdallah, peaked as he was subjected to a set of violations, including severe beatings, electrocution, putting out cigarettes in his various body parts, and torture by starvation as he was prohibited from obtaining food. He was only provided with stale bread, beans, or cheese once every three days.

– Despite his young age, the child was charged in a political case until the court ordered his release in late 2018. Instead of being released, he was disappeared and his detention place has been kept secret by security from the beginning of 2019 to date.

– Mr. Bu Madian became the poster child of the horror authorities inflict on detained children. In the eyes of political activists and civil society organizations, his story is different from other children’s stories. Otherwise, it is a continuous tragedy. To date, we do not know if the child is still alive and keeping his old dream of becoming a painter.

2. Previous Arrests: Mr. Bu Madian has not been arrested in other cases.

3. Timeline from Arrest to Disappearance:
A. Context of the Arrest:
– December 31st, 2017- Arrest: After the arrest of his father on December 5th, 2017, the security authorities raided Mr. Bu Madian’s house in El Arish, North Sinai. He was taken as a hostage to force his older brother to surrender. Moreover, the authorities deemed him a source of information on his brothers-in-law, who are affiliated with ISIS and wanted for arrest.

– July 2nd, 2018- Appearance and Presentation before the Public Prosecution: Mr. Bu Madian appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution after he was forcibly disappeared for seven months. He was charged in the case known in the media as ‘Funding ISIS’.

B. Background on the Case:
Case No. 570 of 2018, Supreme State Security, known in the media as ‘Funding ISIS’.

The case included about twelve defendants, most of whom are relatives of deceased men or those convicted in terrorism cases. His brother Mr. Abdel Rahman Bu Madian, who was extrajudicially killed after his arrest, is included in the same case.

The charges directed against the brothers include “communicating with foreign leaders to obtain financial support from foreign parties to help the group’s personnel and elements implement their hostile operations and terrorism crimes”. Moreover, the defendants were charged with monitoring a group of institutions and public figures within the framework of planning to commit terrorism operations, and targeting the stationing of the armed forces and police in North Sinai, as well as a number of armored and military vehicles, by planting and detonating explosive devices on the roads, firing arms and missiles at security stations and checkpoints, and sniping at individuals and officers.

C. Charges: The charges directed against Mr. Bu Madian are as follows:
– Joining a banned terrorist group,
– Targeting areas belonging to the Egyptian army, and
– Arson of armored vehicles belonging to the Egyptian army in North Sinai.

D. Trial and Release:
– December 26th, 2018- Release Order: The Child Court ordered Mr. Bu Madian’s release and his handing over to his family.

– January 1st, 2019- Upholding the Release Order: His release order was upheld. Later, he was transferred to El Arish Police Station II, in preparation for the order to be implemented.

– January 17th, 2019- Competent Authorities Refrain from Handing the Child Over to His Family: After the release was ordered, Mr. Bu Madian’s sister went to receive him from El Arish Police Station. The police officer in charge requested her to sign a paper pledging her to hand Mr. Bu Madian over to the authorities if the police summoned him for interrogation. She was prohibited from reading the paper at the time. She nevertheless agreed to sign it and accepted the police officer’s demand, hoping to complete the procedures for his release. Despite signing the document, he did not receive her brother, and the child, Bu Madian, remains disappeared until today.

4. Detention Conditions:
A. Detention Places: Mr. Bu Madian was transferred to several detention places, including:
– Battalion 101 “El Sa’ka (Commandos) in Sinai”,
– El Arish Police Station II,
– El Azbakiya Police Station, and
– Unknown and illegal detention places.

B. Violations:
– Enforced disappearance: Mr. Bu Madian was forcibly disappeared for seven months after his initial arrest. He then was forcibly disappeared for a second time after the court ordered his release and his handing over to his family in 2019. He is still disappeared to date,

– Physical torture: The child was subjected to severe beatings and electrocution. Furthermore, he was forced to lay on a hot iron bed frame under which a fire was set.

– Torture by starvation: According to his mother’s statements, he ate once every three days during the first period of his disappearance. His food was stale bread and a plate of beans,

– Pretrial detention instead of being handed over to his family: The twelve years old child was imprisoned for about one hundred days (violation by the judicial authorities),

– Handcuffing and suspending: His hands were handcuffed and he was suspended from his handicapped right hand,

– Deprivation of showering: He was prevented from showering for several days until he developed skin diseases and abscesses in different body parts,

– Torture by intimidation: An officer in a North Sinai police station intimidated the child and forced him to hear the cries of a woman being tortured. He threatened him that his mother would suffer the same fate if he did not disclose information about his older brother,

– Detention with adults: He was detained with adults while he was still a twelve-year-old child, and

– Medical negligence: He was subjected to deliberate medical negligence and he was denied access to medicines during his pretrial detention.

C. Living Conditions in Prison:
The child experienced difficult detention conditions. Due to his respiratory problems and allergies, he needed to obtain bronchodilators to breathe comfortably. Moreover, he suffered from a handicap in his right hand, the one from which he was suspended, making him in need of urgent and constant medical care.

In addition to various conditions and rashes and abscesses that appeared in his several body parts, he suffered severe itching because he was prohibited from taking a shower for a long time. All the abuses led him to attempt suicide during his enforced disappearance.