On February 23rd, 2023, the Cairo Criminal Court, held at Badr Prison Complex, renewed the detention of Yemeni refugee, Abdul-Baqi Saeed Abdo and Egyptian national, Noor Fayez Ibrahim, under Case No. 2993 of 2021, in which they were accused of “joining a terrorist group with knowledge of its objectives and contempt for the Islamic religion,” according to a statement released by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).
Abdul-Baqi Saeed, 52 years old, has been detained pending his case since December 23rd, 2021, after security forces arrested him from his home in Faisal on December 15th and forcibly disappeared him for 8 days. They also seized several items from his apartment (3 laptops). He was arrested on the background of his announcement of his conversion to the Christian religion via his Facebook page in 2013, two years before he came to Egypt. He arrived in Egypt and sought asylum with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 2015.
The EIPR expressed concern last year through a statement on its website about the forced deportation of Abdul-Baqi, as he belongs to the Christian minority in Yemen, fearing for his life due to the situation there.
The UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Religion or Belief and the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants sent a letter to the Egyptian authorities in June last year stating that prosecuting him “on the grounds that he publicly spoke about his conversion to Christianity, which, if confirmed, would amount to the judicial persecution of an individual for the peaceful holding and expression of his religious beliefs.” The Special Rapporteurs also requested “detailed information about the current status of the judicial proceedings initiated against Mr. Abdo, the established legal
and procedural safeguards designed to protect his rights under the law –national and international – and how these safeguards are effectively implemented.”
The Refugees Platform in Egypt (RPE) issued a statement on June 25th, 2022, expressing concern regarding Abdul-Baqi’s deportation and calling on the Egyptian government to abide by international conventions on refugee rights, refrain from deporting him, release him immediately and unconditionally, and stop deporting refugees and asylum seekers from Egypt to countries where they fear for their lives and freedoms.
