The events of January and February 2011, when President Hosni Mubarak resigned, were accompanied by a rise in the number of enforced disappearances.

During the 2011 revolution, 1,200 persons were reported missing. In January 2013 a committee set up by President Mohamed Morsi to investigate the 2011 events presented an 800-page report detailing a series of incidents including cases where citizens were detained by the armed forces and subsequently buried in unmarked graves.

As many as 24,000 prisoners escaped or were released from prison amid the chaos of the 2011 revolution. Although 21,000 were recaptured, the fate of the remaining 3,000 is unclear. Amnesty International reported in February 2011 that some prisoners who had been released were later found dead.

The National Council for Care of the Revolution Martyrs’ Families and Wounded, established in December 2011 by the government of Kamal el-Ganzouri, has provided financial support for the families of those killed or wounded during the 2011 revolution, but was not mandated to search for missing persons.

Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International have reported a significant increase in enforced disappearances since the removal of Mohamed Morsi in 2013, with hundreds of prisoners being held incommunicado at Azouli prison north of Cairo, a charge the Egyptian authorities deny.

Organizations that have addressed the issue of enforced disappearances include the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, the Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, and the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression.

Egypt has not established a national database for missing and disappeared persons.