Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo, a Yemeni Christian convert from Islam, has been freed after three years in Egyptian detention over contributing to a Facebook group for Christian converts.
CAIRO (Alliance Defending Freedom) — The father of five imprisoned for participating in a private Facebook group about converting to Christianity from Islam has been freed from detention after three years – but his case remains open.
Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo, originally from Yemen, was part of a Christian Facebook group that discussed Islamic theology and apologetics. In 2021, Abdo was arrested while he was living as a UNHCR-registered asylum seeker in Egypt. He had originally fled to Egypt because he faced death threats in Yemen after converting to Christianity.
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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. The husband and father of five 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."“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,” commented Abdo upon his release.
Abdo’s son, Husam Baqi, added:
It is hideous that individuals are not allowed to believe and express their beliefs freely and are imprisoned or killed for their faith.
Abdo continues to fight his open legal battle with support from ADF International, who helped secure his release by submitting his case to the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
A global trend of online censorshipCommenting on the case, Kelsey Zorzi, director of Advocacy for Religious Freedom for ADF International, said:
The arbitrary detention of this husband and father without a criminal trial, and the lack of an opportunity for him to defend himself against alleged offenses, constitutes a severe violation of human rights.Support from around the worldThe peaceful expression of one’s religious convictions cannot be a crime – not in Egypt, nor anywhere else in the world. This case shows the extremity of unchecked government censorship in the online age. The world must take note.
While Abdo suffered in prison, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, described his unfair treatment as “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.
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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. From China to Pakistan, from Russia to Syria, from the U.K. to Egypt – free speech must urgently be defended from our age’s resurgent Stalinism,” she added.
Reprinted with permission from the Alliance Defending Freedom.
