Syrian authorities have arrested two Egyptian citizens in Damascus over the past few days. Egypt’s state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA) said the two Egyptians are 58-year-old Naguib Salem, a houseware dealer who was arrested on Saturday in Hamidiya Market, and 45-year-old Mohamed Sibaei, who owns an import/export company.
Sibaei disappeared on 5 April after having entered Syria through Jordan on 16 March.
Egypt's Consul in Damascus, Mohamed al-Fayoumi, told MENA that he had "received phone calls from the relatives of the Egyptian citizens following their disappearance and their failure to contact them.”
Al-Fayoumi went on to say: “As soon as the Egyptian Embassy learned of the disappearance of the two Egyptian citizens in Syria it contacted the concerned Syrian authorities and reported their names to enquire about the nature and circumstances of their disappearance and the need to inform the embassy of the findings."
Al-Fayoumi pointed out that the Syrian authorities promised to respond to the embassy’s request as soon as possible. In related news, the Syrian authorities recently released four Egyptian nationals, including a car trader called Nabil al-Barbari, who was arrested in Damascus a week ago. Following his release, al-Barbari returned to Cairo.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
