Toronto, CANADA – Since December 15th 2021, Egyptian authorities have been detaining Christian Yemeni husband and father of five – Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo – for exercising his freedom of religion and belief online.
The letter penned by the children of Abdulbaqi, call on Canada to make every effort to visit their father in prison and work for his release. The family who finally received resettlement to Canada via the UNHCR and arrived in Canada in September 2024, did so with the promise that they would be reunited with their father “soon.”
The family worry about the impending winter as their father suffers health issues and has already endured violence from fellow inmates in prison because of his faith, “The UNHCR does not visit the prison, leaving our beloved dad vulnerable in our absence […] In our final days in Egypt, we witnessed the deteriorating health of our beloved father, and with winter approaching and the colder conditions in the prison, his health would further deteriorate,” the family writes. Temperatures drop significantly indoors during the winter in Egypt, where there is a damp cold, exacerbated by the lack of sunlight in the prison, its stone structure and absence of any heating.
“The UNHCR does not visit the prison, leaving our beloved dad vulnerable in our absence […] In our final days in Egypt, we witnessed the deteriorating health of our beloved father, and with winter approaching and the colder conditions in the prison, his health would further deteriorate.”
The family was resettled to Canada nearly exactly when the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Joly and the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs [who has been informed about the case of Abdulbaqi during a live interview in Washington DC, in December 2023] met in New York. Their conversation however, had little to do with human rights but focused on tourism with Egypt, with the announcement that Egypt lifts its pre-visa requirement for Canadian citizens starting 1 December 2024.
As the three-year anniversary of the unlawful detention of Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo approaches and the three year separation of the family from their father becomes more felt – the family urge Canada to put pressure on Egypt, “Canada should reaffirm its commitment to protecting Abdulbaqi and urge Egypt to place him in the care and oversight of the UNHCR, facilitating his immediate resettlement to Canada and reuniting with us, his family.”
In August 2024 Abudlbaqi declared a medical strike that he would escalate to a full hunger strike in protest of his unlawful detention and poor conditions Egyptian authorities have kept him in. Abdulbaqi’s unlawful pre-trial detention has been flagged by Amnesty International, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, the U.S. State Department, US Congressman and the UN Special Procedures among others. They have raised concerns about the arbitrary nature of Egypt’s detention of Abdulbaqi, which is solely related to their father’s exercise of freedom of conscience, religion, belief, and expression online. Egyptian authorities have also exceeded the 18-month maximum period of pretrial detention stipulated in their domestic law.
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Jubilee Campaign is a non-profit organization which promotes the human rights and religious liberty of ethnic and religious minorities in the most oppressive countries. We assist individuals seeking asylum from religious persecution as well as promote the care and well-being of larger groups of refugees fleeing religious and ethnic persecution.
Set My People Free (SMPF) is a network of individuals, churches and organizations working for the freedom of converts from Islam to live and practice their new faith, to experience equality and justice in their home countries.
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