Ramy Shaath was arrested in July 2019 for assistance to “a terrorist group”. His fate was mentioned several times by the French and Egyptian authorities.
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Céline Lebrun-Shaath, the wife of the Palestinian activist Ramy Shaath imprisoned in Egypt for two and a half years, always wants to believe in his quick release. For lack of signals in this sense, she hoped that the fate of her husband will be addressed during the visit of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi in Paris, Friday, November 12th. The Egyptian leader had to participate in the day at an international conference on Libya, co-chaired by Emmanuel Macron at the House of Chemistry, and then go to the ceremonies organized for the 75 years of UNESCO. He also had to lunch one-on-one with his French counterpart at the Elysee. “The President regularly addresses, with confidence and frankly, the issue of human rights at their meeting. Individual cases are mentioned,” said a diplomatic source Friday morning.
This new official trip, however, fills Céline Lebrun-Shaath of bitterness, while his husband crouches in an overcrowded cell, without having been judged since his arrest on July 5, 2019. “SISSI visits follow one another, bilateral contacts And the contracts follow one another, and my husband remains in prison, “she entrusted the world, just before the arrival in France of the strong man of Cairo, considered by Paris as a strategic partner:” I have a doubt No intentions from the French authorities, but I wonder about their lack of efficiency. “On December 7, 2020, during a state visit of President Sissi, Emmanuel Macron had already addressed the case with him. Since then, the contacts have continued in vain between Paris and Cairo on this emblematic case of violation of human rights.
Accused “Without foundation”
Ramy Shaath was, before being detained, coordinator in Egypt from the BDS movement (“boycott, disinvestment, sanctions”) against the occupation of the Palestinian territories by Israel. This committed man who had actively participated in the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, is the son of Nabil Shaath, former negotiator and adviser to the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. Ramy Shaath, who he himself was a Yasser Arafat advisor, is detained in the Tora prison in Cairo. Various topic, carried out in particular since Ramallah, to obtain his release, have also remained without continuation.
In June, more than 180 French elected officials of all banks had published an open letter to the Egyptian President to ask for his release. According to his family, Ramy Shaath would be accused “without foundation” of assistance to a “terrorist group” in the context of a “criminal case already open”: at the end of June 2019, the state security had launched a net against Opponents and activists, accusing them of preparing a “plot” against the State and to maintain links with the Muslim Brotherhood – the Brotherhood is prohibited in Egypt and classified “terrorist”.
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