Egyptian-Palestinian political activist Ramy Shaath, detained in Egypt for more than two years, arrived in Paris on Saturday. According to his family, he was forced to renounce his Egyptian nationality in order to obtain his release.
Egyptian-Palestinian political activist Ramy Shaath, detained in Egypt for more than two years, arrived in Paris on Saturday but was forced, according to his family, to renounce his Egyptian nationality in order to obtain his release. “As we write these lines, Ramy is on his way to Paris,” his family wrote in a statement in the morning, saying they were “relieved and delighted” by this announcement but regretting that Cairo “forced him to give up. to his Egyptian citizenship as a precondition for his release “.
Our interview with Ramy Shaath’s wife : “My husband is detained for his legitimate and peaceful political activities”
Ramy Shaath was released “on the evening of (Thursday) January 6, after more than 900 days of arbitrary detention,” according to his people. The Egyptian authorities then handed him over to a representative of the Palestinian Authority at Cairo airport, from where he boarded a plane to Amman. He arrived at the Parisian airport of Roissy-Charles de Gaulle on Saturday afternoon. Saying to share the “relief” of the wife of Ramy Shaath, French President Emmanuel Macron greeted, on Twitter, “the decision of the Egyptian authorities” and said “thank you to all those who played a positive role in this happy outcome. “.
I welcome the decision of the Egyptian authorities to release Ramy Shaath. I share the relief of his wife Céline Le Brun, whom he finds in France, with whom we have not given up. Thank you to everyone who played a positive role in this happy outcome.
– Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 8, 2022
“Two and a half years of unjust detention in inhuman conditions”
The 48-year-old man, a figure of the Egyptian revolution of 2011 and the coordinator in Egypt of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement (BDS, advocating the boycott of Israel in the fight against the occupation of the Palestinian Territories), had been detained since July 2019 for wanting to stir up “unrest against the state”. “While we are happy that the Egyptian authorities have heeded our call for freedom, we regret that they forced him to renounce his Egyptian citizenship as a precondition for his release” after “two and a half years of unjust detention in inhuman conditions, ”the family protested. “No one should have to choose between their freedom and their citizenship. Ramy was born Egyptian, raised as an Egyptian and Egypt has always been and always will be his homeland,” she said. “No forced renunciation of citizenship taken under duress will ever change that.”
An Egyptian judicial source told AFP his release on Monday evening, but it took several days to materialize. The French Foreign Ministry had communicated Tuesday on his “imminent release”. His French wife, Céline Lebrun, had been deported to Paris at the time of her arrest. In December, five human rights organizations questioned French President Emmanuel Macron on the fate of this activist, son of Palestinian political leader Nabil Shaath. A year earlier, during a visit to Paris by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on December 7, 2020, Mr. Macron said he had spoken to him about “individual cases”, including that of Ramy Shaath.
Prisoners “arbitrarily detained”
Egypt has more than 60,000 prisoners of conscience, according to NGOs. The United States believes that the country violates human rights in all areas and has consequently frozen 10% of its aid. Ramy Shaath’s release does not end “the need for international action against the Egyptian government’s catastrophic human rights record,” 11 NGOs, including Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights, said. Man, or Democracy for the Arab world now. Among the “countless prisoners” still “arbitrarily detained” in Egypt are many “peaceful activists, human rights defenders, lawyers, academics and journalists detained solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, “listed these organizations in a joint statement, calling on Cairo to release these opponents.
The relatives of Mr. Shaath thus said “to remain in solidarity with all those who continue to be unjustly detained” in Egypt. “We pray for the day when they too will be reunited with their loved ones again.” Another Egyptian human rights activist, researcher Patrick Zaki, was released in December after 22 months in detention but still faces up to five years in prison for “false information” over article denouncing discrimination against Christians .
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