16 December 2024 – WASHINGTON DC | “Egypt has not legal basis to detain Abdulbaqi,” the muti-faith and multi-ethnic coalition write in letter to the Embassy of Egypt calling on the country to release Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo on the third year anniversary of his arbitrary detention.
In the letter the coalition call on Egypt to release Abdulbaqi in line with its human rights obligations. They bring attention to the UN Special Procedures allegation letter that went out in June 2022 which the government of Egypt has still failed to respond to. They note that this refusal to respond is “further indicating that Egypt has no legal basis to detain Abdulbaqi.”
Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo is a Christian Yemeni who fled Yemen with his family in 2014 to Egypt following religious persecution, his family and in-laws murdered his first wife by replacing cooking oil with gasoline because of the family’s conversion to Christianity. He is a husband and father of five children, four of who will be orphaned if anything happens to Abdulbaqi.
The letter concludes by urging the government if not for its human rights obligations for humanitarian reasons to release Abdulbaqi Abdo who suffers from a heart, liver and kidney condition which are exacerbated with the poor conditions in the prison.
Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo’s situation has been raised by Amnesty International, USCIRF and the US Congressman Chris Smith, chair of the Africa Subcommittee, as well as – the newly nominated Secretary of State – Senator Marco Rubio.
Egypt will undergo its Universal Periodic Review in January 2025, where Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo’s case – if not resolved- will be raised. The letter calls on the Embassy of Egypt to urgently raise the case of Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo with authorities in Cairo.
Read the full letter:
IRF_RT_Yemeni_Refugee_Egypt-2024