Palestinian Political Activist Freed From Egyptian Detention After Two Years

Procedures to release political activist Ramy Sha’ath from detention in Egypt are under way, four judicial and security sources said late on Monday.

Two of the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Sha’ath would be deported to France upon his release.

Egyptian former member of parliament Anwar El Sadat, who has mediated a number of recent prisoner releases, said in a statement that Sha’ath would be freed and deported.

Sha’ath, a member of several secular political groups in Egypt and a co-founder of Egypt's pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, was arrested in June 2019 and held in pre-trial detention on accusations of aiding a terrorist group.

In April 2020 he was placed on a terrorism list along with 12 others, a decision that was upheld by Egypt's highest civilian court in July 2021.

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Sha’ath's French wife Celine Lebrun Shaath, who was deported from Egypt following his arrest, has lobbied the French government to pressure Egypt to release him.

Ramy is the son of the senior Palestinian official Nabil Sha’ath, who served as the Palestinian Authority's first foreign minister.