• EGYPT
  • April 23, 2012
  • 3 minutes read

Urgent Parliamentary Statement Against Arrest of Egyptian Lawyer in Saudi Arabia

Urgent Parliamentary Statement Against Arrest of Egyptian Lawyer in Saudi Arabia

MP Dr. Emad Al-Din Mohamed Sabir, member of the Foreign Relations Committee at the People’s Assembly and member of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) Parliamentary Commission, made an urgent statement seeking to ascertain the fact that the Egyptian citizen Ahmed Algizawi has been arrested while traveling to perform Umrah (minor pilgrimage) in Saudi Arabia.


Earlier, on Tuesday April 17, Airport authorities arrested the lawyer and human rights activist Ahmed Algizawi (29 years) from Jeddah International Airport. He was accompanied by some of his family and friends, having obtained a visa to the Kingdom without any difficulties.


The lawyer’s friends and associates say that the Saudi authorities are punishing Algizawi for filing a lawsuit, in the past, against the Saudi authorities for the practice of arbitrary detention and torture against some Egyptians outside legal processes.


They added that Ahmed was sentenced in absentia, but never notified that he had received a custodial sentence of one year in prison and 20 lashes for insulting the royal ruler.


Dr. Emad Al-Din said that the Saudi ambassador to Egypt must be urgently summoned and urgent decisions taken before the execution of the sentence, especially as there have been a lot of discussions with the ambassador about similar cases concerning the dignity of the Egyptian citizen, which seem to be repeated frequently.


The FJP MP added that Saudi Arabia is almost the only country that still punishes and detains Egyptian thinkers for their political opinions even after the revolution.