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After being in prison for more than 900 days, Shaath reached French soil, where he was reunited with his wife. In a statement, his family said that the activist had to renounce his Egyptian citizenship to obtain his freedom. French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed “the decision of the Egyptian authorities.”
This Saturday, Ramy Shaath landed at the Charles de Gaulle de Roissy airport – near Paris – on a flight from the Jordanian city of Amman after being released by the Government of Egypt, which had him arbitrarily imprisoned since 2019, according to various complaints. NGO, including Amnesty International.
His release comes after reaching 900 days in pretrial detention on charges that indicated links with the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that the government of Abdelfatah al-Sisi described as a terrorist organization.
The activist of Egyptian-Palestinian origin, added to the country’s terrorist list in 2021, would have been forced to abandon his Egyptian citizenship “as a precondition for his release,” according to the family in a statement.
“No one should have to choose between their freedom and their citizenship,” their family members said in the letter. “Ramy was born Egyptian … No forced resignation of citizenship under duress will change that,” they added.
No pronouncements from the Egyptian Government on Shaath’s release
The Government of Egypt did not speak officially on the deportation of Shaath, who was an active member in establishing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. The Attorney General’s Office ordered and executed the activist’s release on Monday, as reported by Amnesty International.
Son of Nabil Shaath, important Palestinian politician and presidential adviser to Mahmoud Abbas, Ramy had been arrested on July 5, 2019 at his home in Cairo with his wife (she was deported that same day to France) and was attached to a case involving a former legislator and key secular activist, arrested a month earlier for collaborating with Brotherhood members to plot violence and riots.
Shaath was imprisoned in a context of strong repression of the Al-Sisi mandate towards political dissent, arresting liberal critics and Islamists of the Brotherhood. However, the authorities assured the non-existence of political prisoners and justified the arrests on the grounds that they were necessary to stabilize the country after the 2011 uprising.
Emmanuel Macron celebrates Shaath’s release
According to the details of Shaath’s family, he was handed over to a representative of the Palestinian Authority at the Cairo international airport, where he got on a plane bound for the Jordanian capital. Then he boarded another trip to Paris, where his wife, the French Céline Le Brun Shaath, lives.
Once the activist’s journey ended, President Emmanuel Macron expressed satisfaction via Twitter: “I welcome the decision of the Egyptian authorities to release Ramy Shaath.” In addition, he spoke of “sharing the relief” of the wife of the Egyptian-Palestinian and thanked “all those who played a positive role in this happy result.”
The decision of the Egyptian authorities of Ramy Shaath en liberté has passed. Je partage le soulagement de son épouse Céline Le Brun, qu’il retrouve en France, avec qui nous n’avons rien lâché. Merci à tous ceux qui ont joué un rôle positif dans cette heureuse issue.
– Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 8, 2022
The French leader was involved in the affair and was questioned last month by various NGOs a year after he claimed to have presented Shaath’s case to Al-Sisi. However, Macron assured that human rights would not be a request to hinder economic and military ties with Egypt after closing the sale of 30 Rafale fighter jets.
With EFE, AP and Reuters
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