Haidar Qandil, an Egyptian journalist who works for Cairo-based media outlet Al-Dustour, disappeared on June 23, 2026, after leaving his office, according to his family and several media outlets.
Freelance Egyptian journalist Iman Adel said in a Facebook post that she had been in contact with Qandil throughout the day as he documented the arrests of Egyptian Shia individuals ahead of Ashura — a key religious commemoration — including members of his own family.
Qandil is a prominent Egyptian journalist who has contributed to several independent media outlets, including The New Arab, Zawia3, and Raseef22, among others.
He was previously arrested on December 29, 2019, and forcibly disappeared until March 23, 2020, when prosecutors charged him and other Egyptian Shia Muslims with blasphemy. Though released on bail that August, On December 11, 2021, Cairo Airport authorities told him he was banned from traveling, confiscated his passport, and ordered him to report to the National Security headquarters to retrieve it.
According to Qandil, prior to his release in 2020, a national security officer warned him he would be banned from practicing journalism. Shortly after, a senior official at an outlet where he was previously employed informed him of his dismissal, explicitly stating it was due to security instructions.
Egyptian security forces have systematically used enforced disappearance — characterized as a state-sponsored arrest or abduction followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts — to target journalists, who are often mistreated prior to being presented with charges.
CPJ emailed Egypt's Public Prosecutor's Office for comment but did not receive an immediate response.