A Christian man was freed from an Egyptian prison last month after three years of detention over Facebook posts he shared among an online group of converts from Christianity to Islam.
Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo, who is originally from Yemen, was part of a Christian Facebook group that discussed Islamic theology and apologetics, according to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International. In 2021, Abdo was arrested for his Facebook post while he was living as a UNHCR registered asylum seeker in Egypt. He faced death threats in Yemen after converting to Christianity.
ADF International, which is supporting his legal defense and helped secure his release by submitting his case to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, said the case remains open before State Security authorities as the charges against him haven’t been dismissed.
Egyptian authorities reportedly arrested Abdo, along with another Christian man named Nour Girgis, after their affiliation with the Facebook page was discovered. Now, authorities are “spuriously claiming they were involved with terrorism activities,” according to ADF International.
The father of five withstood severe conditions before he was released from prison last month. He was moved between several detention centers throughout his three years of imprisonment, even undergoing a hunger strike within his final six months in an act of desperation. He suffered from poor health in relation to his heart, liver and kidneys.
“I endured many hardships in prison. It isn’t right that a government should tear me away from my family, keep me in these awful conditions, only because of the faith in which I peacefully choose to believe,” Abdo said of his release.
“I thank everyone who prayed for me while I was in prison, cared about and followed up on my case, and shared the joy of my release from prison,” he added.
Abdo’s son, Husam Baqi, criticized the fact that individuals are “not allowed to believe and express their beliefs freely and are imprisoned or killed for their faith.”
Kelsey Zorzi, the director of advocacy for religious freedom at ADF International, said Abdo’s arbitrary detention without a criminal trial, as well as the lack of an opportunity for him to defend himself against the alleged offenses, constitutes a severe violation of his human rights.
“The peaceful expression of one’s religious convictions cannot constitute a crime – not in Egypt, nor anywhere else in the world,” she said. “This case shows the extremity of unchecked government censorship in the online age. The world must take note.”
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and founder of the AHA Foundation, previously told Fox News Digital the idea that ordinary people can be locked away for years for simply expressing beliefs in a private Facebook forum is “grotesque.”
“The imprisonment of Yemeni refugee Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo at the hands of Egyptian authorities is a surreal example of censorial blasphemy policies in action,” she said. “It’s also illegal. Egyptian officials have violated this father and husband’s human rights.”
Ali is a refugee from Somalia, where she was the victim of female genital mutilation in a Muslim community. Previously a prominent atheist, Ali announced in November that she was converting to Christianity. Because of her outspoken rhetoric against the Muslim Brotherhood, she faces constant death threats.
“This is the logical conclusion to a trend that empowers authorities to brutalize innocent people for free expression on social media,” she added. “From China to Pakistan, from Russia to Syria, from the UK to Egypt—free speech must urgently be defended from our age’s resurgent Stalinism.”
