Egyptian Security Services Prevent 4 MB Leaders from Travelling to Turkey

Egyptian security forces prevented top Muslim Brotherhood (MB) leaders from travelling to Turkey to attend the Int”l Jerusalem Meeting in Istanbul which will be held between November 15th and 17th.
The MB travel-banned leaders included Dr. Gamal Abdul Salam, the secretary general of the relief committee in the Arab Doctors” Union, Dr. Gamal Heshmat, a former member of parliament, Dr. Ahmed Omar, the secretary general of Cairo Doctors” Syndicate and engineer Ali Abdul Fattah, a Muslim Brotherhood leader.
 
Other persons were denied travel to attend this annual event including Abdul Moneim Mahmoud and Ragab Al Basel.
 
A delegation of the Muslim Brotherhood”s parliamentary bloc- headed by the MB bloc leader Dr. Mohamed Saad Al Katatni- is to take part in this international meeting for Jerusalem.
Istanbul Declaration” will be released during the convention which will host 5,000 people from more than 60 countries
Dr Gamal Heshmat said:” We were going to the Int”l Jerusalem Meeting in Istanbul, a meeting for those interested in the Palestinian cause to work for support it. About 200 Egyptians are scheduled to attend it, including those denied travel.
“However, we were stunned by the security authorities decision of preventing us from travelling without stating any clear reason”, said Heshamt, adding that this actually reflects” a state of oppression exercised by the Egyptian administration that don”t allow any kind of dialogue or discussion. This decision actually addresses the security authorities that want to prevent us ion from travelling”.
 
Heshmat pointed out that the Egyptian regime is run according to whims, especially that some others have already travelled to Turkey to attend the meeting without any obstacle. He saw this as an unjustified bias which has no legal or constitutional foundation.
 
“The regime always raises the slogan of citizenship without implementing it on the ground. Denying any citizen the right to travel while there is no justification for this act, is actually a violation of human rights”.
 
“If the regime wants to fight us through illegal measures, we will defend ourselves through legal means”, said Dr. Gamal Heshmat, pointing out that there are similar past cases of travel bans without any reasonable justification for such an action. He added that will file another lawsuit after the Egyptian justice endorsed his right to travel in two previous cases against the Egyptian government.
 
Heshmat saw that these repeated arbitrary measures will come to a halt only when the current government is dismissed. “This government has no logic in handling current crises facing us. All these measures- travel bans, transferring civilians to military courts, detentions, denying workers and employees their rights- only increase the currently aggravated state of tension in the Egyptian street, and enrage the Egyptian people who see their political rights and even their rights as humans violated by the ruling National Democratic Party”.
 
For his part, Dr. Gamal Abdul Salam, the secretary general of the relief committee in the Arab Doctors” Union, said about his travel ban:” This is not the first time to travels abroad, as I always travel to various countries due to the nature of my job, but this is the first in which I get a travel ban and there is no clear reason for this”.
 
Dr. Abd Al-Salam saw that this measure is in clear contravention with human rights and other rights guaranteed by the constitution and law. “I have traveled throughout the few past months more than seven times, and I faced no ban. The latest was last week to Sudan for a relief work. I really don”t know why they have denied me travel this time” said the aid worker.
 
 At the end of his phone call, Dr. Gamal Heshmat called on the security authorities in Egypt to have some kind of logic in the security performance in Egypt. “We hope that human rights are respected and freedoms are retained while authorities carry out their duties”.
 
“Instead of protecting Egyptian citizens, the Egyptian authorities are intimidating and terrorizing all the Egyptian people. This is done by a clique that rules the country and wants to defend only its interests against the will of the Egyptian people. This clique uses unfortunately officers and others to unjustly oppress Egyptian people”.
 
“What is currently happening in Egypt is to the interest of a specific group of people who benefit from this oppressive regime. We call for a more respect to the rule of law, more respect to the constitution. What these officials do is actually distorting their image in history and for the generations to come. They should know that they will leave their posts one day and let history to judge them independently”, said the MB leader.