Cairo wedding will see little joy with bride’s dad in jail

WHEN Johannesburg pharmacy student Al-Zahra Bassiouni exchanges her wedding vows on Friday, it will be with bittersweet feelings knowing that her romance had led to her father’s detention.

Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdus Salaam Bassiouni, 65, was detained in Egypt on December 2 last year, and sent to a prison on the outskirts of the capital, Cairo.

He was travelling with his family to attend his daughter’s engagement. Shortly after arriving at Cairo International Airport, he and his son Bilal were taken into custody.

They were interrogated separately about their political affiliations and questioned whether they were members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt’s government had declared a terrorist organisation. Bilal was released 20 hours later.

Bassiouni, who holds dual Egyptian and South African citizenship, having lived in South Africa for 25 years, had not been brought to court, said Bilal.

Since his detention he has languished in prison, losing almost 20kg and suffering a fractured vertebra after a fall.

“His detention is renewed every 45 days after more interrogation. DETAINED: Sheikh Abdus Salaam Bassiouni Officials from the South African embassy in Cairo visited my father a month ago. We don’t know any of the outcomes of the government negotiations.

“Since last year my mother and brother Taariq have remained in Egypt and visit my dad once a week. He is diabetic and . . . sleeps on the floor in a 3m by 3m cell which he shares with nine prisoners,” said Bilal.

A week ago, Al-Zahra and her two younger siblings, Bahy, 17 and Raghda, 13, travelled to Egypt for her wedding.

“My brother Talaal and I will not attend the wedding as we fear we may be detained or interrogated upon our arrival in Egypt. We are devastated that we cannot be there,” said Bilal.

Al-Zahra, 22, who met her fiance, an Egyptian doctor, in 2013, had planned to marry in June.

Bilal said: “My father’s detention has been [so] emotionally taxing on my sister that she didn’t think about getting married for the past 11 months or so. It was my father’s wish . . . that our lives go on and to find an occasion that would bring back some happiness to the family.

“We still wish that by some miracle he makes it. We cannot comprehend how he is still detained 365 days later, with no due legal process . . . A year of my father’s life has been taken away from him and its frustrating that there’s nothing we can do about it,” said Bilal.

Nelson Kgwete, spokesman for the Department of International Relations, said he was advised by the embassy in Egypt that Bassiouni did not want any information regarding his circumstances to be disclosed, and the department would respect his wish.

However, Bilal said the family wanted to share his ordeal.

He sleeps on the floor in a 3m by 3m cell which he shares with nine prisoners