• EGYPT
  • December 30, 2012
  • 3 minutes read

Karioni: Egypt Doctors’ Union Denounces Detention of Egyptian Doctors by Emirati Authorities

Karioni: Egypt Doctors’ Union Denounces Detention of Egyptian Doctors by Emirati Authorities

Dr. Abdullah Al-Karioni, Muslim Brotherhood Assistant Secretary-General and Rapporteur of the Egyptian Medical Syndicate’s Liberties Committee, said that if authorities fail to respond to the Syndicate’s demands for the immediate release of three doctors arrested in the UAE, the Committee will organize demonstrations and sit-ins outside the UAE embassy in Cairo.

In a statement, Karioni explained that the Committee addressed President Mohamed Morsi, the Arab League, the National Council for Human Rights, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Shura Council (the upper house of Egyptian parliament) to intervene and resolve the crisis and secure the immediate release of the detained doctors.

Karioni further said that new post-revolution Egypt will not accept violations rights and the dignity of Egyptians – the people or their government. He also stressed that such acts negatively affect the good and fraternal relations between the two peoples.

He pointed out that the Syndicate contacted many Emirati officials, who criticized the actions of the Government of their country.

Earlier, UAE authorities arrested three Egyptian doctors: Ali Sonbol, Mohamed Shahda, and Abdullah Zaaza. Unspecified security agencies took them away from their homes to unknown destinations, and without clear legal reasons.

Separately, Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Hamid, member of the Syndicate’s Liberties Committee, said he contacted the families of the three doctors, and that Asmaa – Dr. Sonbol’s daughter – told him that on Tuesday, December 18, her father was in Dubai airport when he was prevented from leaving the country to go spend his annual vacation in Cairo, by security operatives who claimed to be acting on ‘security instructions’.

“Shortly after we went back to our residence, our home was raided by UAE security forces without justification. Security operatives bound my father and took him away by force. They also took his personal computer equipment. My mother, then, went to the police station to inquire about my father, but they did not tell her anything there.

Abdel-Hamid said that the other two doctors were arrested in the same way, and prevented from leaving the country, without clear reasons.