Urgent requests for Saudi to reject Egypt's politically motivated extradition request
A commercial sales executive, husband and father of two young children has been locked up in a Saudi Arabian jail, fighting for his freedom and life, after Egypt issued a politically motivated Interpol Red Notice and extradition request.
In an X post, Virginia Congressman Don Beyer has urged KSA to halt the extradition and release him.
Rep. Beyer posted, “Ahmed Kamel was unjustly persecuted and tortured for participating in nonviolent protests during the Arab Spring in Egypt. I urge the Government of Saudi Arabia to halt his extradition to Egypt and move towards his immediate release from detention.”
33 year old Ahmed Kamel is yet another victim of the Egyptian regime’s political persecutions against those who participated in the 2011-2014 non violent protests. Ahmed Kamel joined millions across Egypt in peaceful protests but the regime’s brutal crackdown on dissent resulted in Ahmed fighting for his life after a gunshot wound. He and thousands of others were rounded up, tortured and jailed in the most horrendous conditions.
Ahmed managed to escape Egypt but the regime’s attack on freedom of expression continued. Egypt repeatedly wielded the power of Interpol to have their targets harassed, arrested abroad and subjected to lengthy extradition proceedings. “While it is against the rules of Interpol to issue an Interpol Red Notice for politically motivated reasons, countries who seek to do so can disguise their motivations by misreporting the crime”, explains Interpol and extradition expert Radha Stirling, founder of IPEX Reform, who is assisting Ahmed’s family. “Egypt is one of the most prolific offenders and has even issued Red Notices against American citizens who have never been to Egypt, just for their political views and online commentary.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has wisely rejected politically motivated extradition requests including that of our client last year, British citizen Christopher Emms. We hope they will see the serious threat to Ahmed’s life and grave human rights violations he would face in the event he were extradited to Egypt. Egypt’s request is a politically motivated vendetta against freedom of expression, speech and opposition”.
Ahmed’s American wife and two young US citizen children are desperate to get him home. “If he is sent to Egypt, they fear they will never see him again, that he will be killed in custody and they will, too, be at risk. The whole family is in distress”, relays Stirling.
“We are hopeful Saudi will deny the extradition and release Ahmed as soon as possible. We also encourage Elon Musk's DOGE to review US membership with Interpol. The US is the largest Interpol donor but Interpol is too often weaponized by member states with poor human rights records who target US persons for their political vendettas. Interpol enjoys complete immunity but unlimited power to destroy people’s lives and risk their freedom. All of this is being funded by the United States.
“We will request Interpol delete the Red Notice against Mr Kamel but once extradition proceedings are underway, sometimes it can be too late as we saw in the very public case of Hakeem al-Araibi".
Stirling recently assisted US citizen Sherif Osman who also faced extradition to Egypt for his political views.
He was freed from the UAE last year:
