Egyptian lawyer Ahmed al-Gizawy, currently detained in Saudi Arabia on charges of drug smuggling, has denied the charges and said he has not confessed to the crime, according to a letter he wrote.
Gizawy’s wife, Shahenda, who provided the letter to Al-Masry Al-Youm, said her husband sent it to through the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. He sent it to explain everything that happened during his detention, she said.
Gizawy, who had previously filed a lawsuit against kingdom authorities over the treatment of Egyptians there, said he dismissed the Saudi lawyers appointed to defend him because they gave what he described as false statements to the press.
He said one of the lawyers claimed Saad al-Katatny, the speaker of the Egyptian People’s Assembly, and prominent Salafi sheikh Mohamed Hassan wanted to send a thank-you message to the Saudi king — an allegation Gizawy called a lie.
Gizawy said he would defend himself, along with assistance from Yasser al-Olwany of the Egyptian Consulate in Jeddah.
He closed the letter by denying the charges against him altogether.
Shahenda Gizawy told Al-Masry Al-Youm that every Saudi lawyer assigned to defend her husband had asked him to confess to smuggling drugs into the Gulf kingdom.
A peaceful protest her husband’s colleagues were planning to stage in front of the Saudi Embassy in Cairo Wednesday to call for his release has been postponed due to the current political situation in Egypt, she said.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
