Canadian detained at Cairo airport
After 558 days in Egyptian jail, Al– Qazzaz was to fly to Toronto with wife, children
After 558 days in a Cairo jail and three months anxiously awaiting papers that would allow his exit from Egypt, Canadian resident Khaled Al -Qazzaz thought he was flying home to Toronto Thursday.
“We have our passports, our clearances and we’re trying not to look back, only forward. We want to get our lives back together,” his wife, Sarah Attia, said in a phone interview from Cairo Wednesday.
Instead, the family’s dream of going home turned into an airport nightmare. When Al-Qazzaz, his wife Sarah Attia and four children aged 4 to 8 arrived at the Cairo airport later in the day, they were stopped by the airport security services, barred from leaving the country, and held without explanation.
“They were told they would not be allowed to travel,” said Attia’s brother Ahmad Attia in an email. “For the last six hours they have been held without any indication of when they will be allowed to go home. Their passports have been taken and Sarah’s savings intended for Khaled’s medical costs have been confiscated.”
Al-Qazzaz was to be admitted to hospital for surgery on arrival in Toronto, to treat serious neck and spinal injuries.
“Over the last few months Khaled has received confirmations from legal authorities in Egypt that he is cleared from all accusations, not under investigation and not banned from travel,” said Ahmad Attia. “The family and legal team had formally notified all relevant authorities of their travel plans and Khaled’s medical arrangements.”
Al Qazzaz was not on a no-fly list, Attia added.
Al-Qazzaz had been held without charge in a Cairo prison after he was arrested in a sweep of suspected members or supporters of the nowoutlawed Muslim Brotherhood, following a 2013 military-led coup against former Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi.