The Doctors Syndicate’s freedoms commission on Wednesday organized a demonstration outside the Saudi Embassy in Cairo to protest the detention of Egyptian doctors in Saudi prisons, some of whom they say have been held more than four years without charges.
Detainees’ relatives hoisted banners calling for their release and denounced a statement by the Saudi ambassador that denied the existence of Egyptian political prisoners in Saudi prisons.
The relatives also decried maltreatment by embassy staff members, who they said shut the gates in their faces.
The syndicate said last month that Saudi authorities have been holding six Egyptian doctors without charges. It threatened to refer the issue to international arbitration if the doctors are not freed.
In mid-January, syndicate member Abdallah al-Karyouny told reporters in a press conference that one of the doctors, surgeon Mohamed Ali Hamid, has been detained for more than 22 months for a dispute with his Saudi kafeel (sponsor), who had declined to give him his financial rights.
But last Thursday, Saudi Ambassador Ahmed Abdel Aziz al-Qattan said all Egyptians in Saudi prisons are detained for security and criminal charges.
His statement came after Sada al-Balad, an Egyptian news website, cited media reports saying there are 50 Egyptians imprisoned in Saudi Arabia on political charges.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
