CAIRO (Dispatches) – Two men have been forcibly disappeared in Egypt following their participation in the storming of the State Security headquarters at the Ma’asara police station in Helwan in southern Cairo in protest of Egypt’s complicity in the Gaza siege, Middle East Eye has learned. 
Twenty-seven-year-old Mohsen Mustafa and his 23-year-old cousin Ahmed Sherif Ahmed Abdel Wahab have not been heard from since Mustafa posted on Facebook claiming responsibility for the raid, shortly before his profile was removed.
The men were reportedly involved in the storming of the police station on 25 July, where a group who identified themselves as “Iron 17” raided the facility and detained several security personnel for hours.
Footage of the raid showing the young men holding the officers captive went viral. The videos, which were published on a Telegram channel and viewed millions of times, showed the men condemning the closure of Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with Gaza and the arrests of activists collecting aid for Palestinians in the territory.
In one clip, a detained officer said that the opening of the crossing was “impossible”.
Egypt’s interior ministry promptly issued two statements claiming the footage was fabricated as part of a Muslim Brotherhood-led plot, and that those involved in circulating it had been arrested. The ministry accused the Muslim Brotherhood of attempting to undermine Egypt’s support for Palestine. The Telegram channel disappeared shortly after.
The Egyptian Network for Human Rights (ENHR) said the videos had been verified by former detainees who were held at the facility, while Egyptian news outlet Mada Masr cited lawyers who said documents visible in the footage belong to detainees who are currently under surveillance.
Hours before the channel disappeared, the group released an audio statement, attributed to Mustafa and Wahab, claiming responsibility for the operation.