Rights group: Malaysia bears responsibility for safety of 5 men deported to Egypt

The Arab Organisation for Human Rights in UK held the Malaysian authorities fully responsible for the safety of five Egyptians and an unidentified sixth person who were handed over to the Egyptian regime and another country on 5 March.

Mohamed Abdel Aziz Fathi Eid, Abdullah Mohamed Hisham Mustafa, Abdul Rahman Abdul Aziz Ahmed Mustafa, and Azmi El Sayed Mohammed Ibrahim and two others were detained by Malaysian police and interrogated for more than a month. They were then handed over to Egypt on 5 March. Their fate now remains unknown.

The Organisation added that the Malaysian authorities handed the five Egyptians to the regime despite knowing the dangers this would put them in.

The Egyptian regime has repeatedly used torture, mass murder and enforced disappearances in dealing with its pro-democracy activists, in violation of all international covenants and conventions.

The extradition of the six men was carried out in secrecy as a result, AOHR added, without the matter being investigated by the Malay judiciary.

READ: Malaysia extradites 4 Egyptians held on security charges

Twenty-seven-year-old Abdullah Mohamed Hisham Mustafa’s wife said then men were not given access to lawyers in Malaysia and they have not been told why they were detained.

“My husband was arrested from our house in Selangor on 2 February 2019 under the Security Crimes Law, without informing us exactly about the crimes that my husband had committed. He was then taken to a security office with others including the five Egyptians who have been deported with him. We were not informed about the exact place of their detention,” she explained.

“Neither my husband nor the others were brought before any judicial body. They were supposed to be released on 2 March 2019 according to the regulations of the Security Crimes Law. The Malaysian authorities, however, kept them in custody and allowed them to see the lawyer directly only once after arresting them. They were then deprived of their right to hire a lawyer, and lawyers were prevented from entering the building or communicating with them.”

She continued: “On 6 March 2019, we were informed by the security authorities that my husband and the others had been deported to Egypt on 5 March, and we still do not know about their fate till now.”