Doctor given life sentence in Egypt over posts faces deportation from Morocco
A Turkish-Egyptian dual citizen who is facing a life sentence in Egypt for his political activity was detained upon arrival in Morocco and is set to be deported.
Dr Abdelbaset Abdallah Mohamed al-Imam, 62, was detained and interrogated by Moroccan security officials after landing in Casablanca airport on 3 November, his family told Middle East Eye.
After receiving an initial message from him which read "pray for me", Imam's family lost contact with him for 14 hours.
They then received a minute-long call from him informing them that he was being transferred to a police station in Casablanca to await a court hearing regarding his deportation to Egypt.
Imam fled Egypt in 2016, fearing arrest for social media activity concerning his son’s death in the 2013 Rabaa massacre.
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The Egyptian military massacred around 1,000 Egyptians amid protests at Cairo's Rabaa Square demanding the restoration of the deposed president, the late Mohamed Morsi.
Imam and his family had received multiple threats from the authorities after the massacre, which Human Rights Watch described as the worst mass killing of civilians in Egypt's modern history.
"They asked for detailed information about each family member, age names and everything," a family member, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, said. Shortly before Imam left the country, the family home was raided by security forces.
"We didn't live a normal life for months," the family member said. "We didn't ever return to that home as we were scared they would find us."
Imam was granted Turkish citizenship in 2017 after finding refuge there. Since 2014, many Egyptians have fled to the country.
The same year, Imam was sentenced to life in prison in absentia for his social media activity, and was accused of being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, according to his family.
"He previously travelled to Yemen, to Saudi Arabia, he went to Qatar and Jordan…he hasn't faced any problems before," the family member said, speaking of Imam's travels after leaving Egypt.
The family's names are included on an Egyptian airport watch list but it is not known whether this list has been shared internationally.
Imam's family are concerned that he will likely face torture on arrival in Egypt, noting that he will be particularly at risk in detention as he suffers from high blood pressure.
Ramping up transnational repression
Morocco and Egypt signed an agreement on the extradition of convicts in 2014. The UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, of which Morocco is a signatory, forbids member states from deporting anyone to a country where they are likely to be subjected to torture.
A recent report by the Egyptian Human Rights Forum and the Egyptian Front for Human Rights revealed how Egyptian authorities have ramped up repression of exiled human rights defenders.
The report, which is based on interviews with 10 human rights activists who fled Egypt between 2017 and 2020, details how Egyptian authorities have used a range of methods to intimidate and harass them, including issuing sentences in absentia, launching judicial investigations and placing them on designated terrorism lists.
Several activists reported that the countries they had fled to had struck extradition agreements with Egypt, while others did not have a clear stance on human rights abuses in Egypt under the rule of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, leaving the exiles in "legal limbo".
Middle East Eye has contacted the Turkish foreign ministry for comment regarding Imam's case.
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