Grandad’s prison ordeal
ALAWYER who was detained in an Egyptian prison without being charged and released only after more than a year has finally been able to return home.
Sheikh Abdel Bassiouni, 66, was greeted with hugs and kisses from his children and grandchildren at the OR Tambo International Airport on Sunday after he emerged at international arrivals.
When POST chatted to him a day later, via his son, Bilaal, who served as an interpreter, the Egyptian-born lawyer said he was relaxing at home.
Bassiouni, a community activist in Johannesburg, said he had no intention of returning to Egypt, where he was treated inhumanely.
He was arrested by national security at Cairo International Airport in December 2014 after he and his family arrived for his daughter’s engagement party.
The Egyptian government believed he had political ties with the Islamic organisation Muslim Brotherhood, an alleged terrorist group.
But Bassiouni’s family maintained throughout his incarceration that he did not dabble in politics nor was he a member of extremist organisations.
He said when he arrived at Tora prison in Cairo he was placed in a cell with nine other educated males, including doctors and lecturers, and they too had been accused of having similar political links.
Bassiouni, a father of six who has dual Egyptian and South African citizenship, said the prison conditions had been degrading.
“It felt as if we were being kept in a tunnel. They served us fava beans on a daily basis and the toilet was located inside the cell.”
He said prisoners had been allowed to step out into the sun for two hours a day.
“But what really hurt was being kept in prison for 16 months without being charged.”
From day one, he said, he was repeatedly interrogated.
“They always asked two questions, what was my name and what work I did.”
The grandfather of seven, who is diabetic, said his wife Amal had to wait 12 hours to see him and most of the medication she brought for him was not permitted inside.
“It saddens me today still, that she went through so much at such an old age.”
He said he was grateful to the South African embassy for its help and support.
“They visited but their hands were tied when they requested I be released.”
Bassiouni was released at the end of March last year after a new Egyptian law was passed.
“It said that if a person is detained and not charged for two years, that person must get released. My release came with conditions, though.
“I had to remain in Egypt until the authorities felt I was no longer a threat. I also had to report to the nearest police station two times a day at 6am and at 6pm and every 45 days I had to appear at a pre-trial where they asked me the same two questions, what was my name and what work I did.”
What kept him going was knowing he was innocent “even though my rights were violated in my birth country”.
Bassiouni, who strives to uplift underprivileged communities by establishing charity organisations, wants to continue his goodwill work.
Long-time friend Iqbal Jassat, executive member of Media Review Network, said: “Sheikh Bassiouni is eager to get back to work at numerous institutions he set up to continue his groundbreaking initiatives, which includes skills training at empowerment centres dotted across informal settlements in and around Lenasia.”