Is Canada abandoning its own in Egypt?
When Justin Trudeau was elected last year as Canada’s new prime minister, my family was filled with hope. It wasn’t just because we thought he’d bring in a new approach to governance. The prime minister took a principled position toward Mohamed Fahmy’s case and his relentless pressure on the Conservative government at the time to phone Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and ask for an immediate release.
We expected this same commitment to human rights cases would translate into his Liberal administration taking immediate steps to reposition Canada’s international standing by doing something significant for people like my brother-inlaw Khaled Al-Qazzaz. Khaled, his wife Sarah and four children, all under the age of 10, have been forcibly prevented by Egyptian officials from flying back to their home in Canada.
We thought the Trudeau administration would be more proactive in helping Khaled, a human rights advocate, who was unjustly detained in Egypt for several years. The Egyptian government dropped all investigations over a year ago and released Khaled after 558 days of solitary confinement, but decided to prolong his persecution by forcing him and his family to stay in Egypt.
Khaled is a Canadian permanent resident and the rest of his family members are Canadian citizens. So why isn’t the Canadian government doing more to bring them home?
Global Affairs Canada recently issued an advisory that warns against non-essential travel to Egypt, citing increased security risks. This means the Government of Canada understands how dangerous and unstable the political situation in Egypt can be. They also understand how much worse the risks are for Khaled, whose Canadian campaign for his freedom has drawn the ire and persecution of the current Egyptian regime.
Our government has even noted quite explicitly that it will come to the aid of those who face a crisis situation and require an assisted evacuation. Khaled and his family fit this description perfectly.
They’ve been trying to leave Egypt for more than a year, but Canada hasn’t kept its promise. Khaled and his family are being forced to fight through a frightening situation imposed upon them by a foreign government that has shown little respect for universal human rights and, frankly, for its Canadian ally. When Khaled tried to leave Egypt with Sarah and their children, Egyptian officials detained them inside Cairo’s airport — twice — with no justification and eventually issued a travel ban against Khaled for no apparent reason.
The money Sarah saved to cover her husband’s health expenses (needed for a medical surgery as a result of the horrific conditions of his detainment) were confiscated by these officials, who also went on to freeze all her accounts without explanation, leaving them financially vulnerable.
This series of actions amounts to a level of state-led persecution that should’ve prompted the swiftest reaction from the Canadian government, which has promised to protect its citizens from such injustices. As Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, recently stated, Khaled’s “release is conditional and he is virtually being held a prisoner of Egypt: barred from leaving the country and returning home to Canada to resume family life, receive proper medical care and rebuild his life. He needs to be sure that the Canadian Government is sparing no effort to resolve his case and bring him home.”
I never imagined our family would find itself abandoned by our government. While the Canadian ambassador in Egypt has worked tirelessly to resolve the problem, little has been done in Ottawa to produce real results. Khaled is forced to live like a prisoner in Egypt, given the conditions of his release from prison. He was a political prisoner who for all intents and purposes was jailed and persecuted for his belief that the freedoms and human rights we enjoy in Canada could be a reality for Egyptians as well.
Khaled’s daughter wakes up in the middle of the night just to make sure her parents are still in their bed. His eldest son was receiving therapy in Canada because he was so traumatized by the sight of his own father in an Egyptian prison cell. That a family would be forced to go through all this is an unnecessary injustice that we in Canada can end, if we have the will to do so.
Our Canadian government must step up to bring the Al-Qazzaz family home for good.