Sources say the Egyptian-Palestinian politician, who has been in jail for nearly 30 months, has been deported to France after his release.
Egyptian prosecutors have demanded the release of Egyptian-Palestinian civil rights activist Ramy Shaath, who has been in jail for nearly 30 months, according to media reports.
The 50-year-old son of former Palestinian politician Nabil Shaath, portrayed the 2011 uprisings in Egypt and the Egyptian head of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) group against Israel. He was was arrested in 2019 and was charged with aiding and abetting the “terrorist” organization.
Late Monday, the Reuters news agency cited four sources of charges and security allegations that plans to release Shaath from prison were underway. Two of the sources, speaking anonymously, said the suspect had been deported to France upon his release.
His wife, a French national, Celine Lebrun, told AFP: “I have heard about the election but as far as I know he has not come out.”
Lebrun, who was deported from Egypt shortly after the arrest of her husband, said she had released a statement upon her release.
There were no recent comments by the Free Ramy Shaath campaign.
Earlier on Monday, prominent MP Mohamed Anwar Sadat also announced “a verdict of almost” release “against Shaath and his dismissal.
One month after Ramy Shaath was evicted from her home in Cairo on July 5, 2019, Nabil Shaath said the arrest was about her son’s encouragement in the BDS group, as well as her criticism that Egypt is participating in the group. United States-led economic summit in Bahrain, which was cited at the time as the first part of a plan against the US authorities at the time to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In April 2020, Shaath was placed on a “terrorist” list in Egypt along with 12 other people.
In December, five human rights groups called on French President Emmanuel Macron to force Egypt to release Shaath.
Macron has already spoken out about his arrest at a press conference in Paris with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in December 2020.
Egypt has been on the decline since el-Sisi – the army chief of staff who became President in 2014 after leading a military ouster of President Mohamed Morsi last year – took office.
Human rights groups say Egypt holds 60,000 political prisoners, many of them facing violence and overcrowded cells.
Egypt ranks low on the Global Public Policy Institute’s Academic Freedom Index.
Shaath’s release law comes about a month later Egyptian court acquits investigator Patrick Zaki whose imprisonment in 2020 led to international opposition.
Zaki was released on December 7 but still faces charges of “spreading false information”, “undermining national security” and “incitement to overthrow”, among others.
Amnesty International said in the past Zaki had been tortured during cross-examination by security forces, including the use of electronic weapons and beatings.
In 2019 interview with a 60-minute demonstration on US CBS radio, El-Sisi said there were no political prisoners in Egypt.
