Read here: https://www.chch.com/oakville-man-held-in-egypt/

An Oakville man has been detained in Egypt and transferred to a notoriously ruthless prison. His family is calling on the Prime Minister to request his immediate release.

“There’s absolutely nothing that he has done wrong. This has to be a huge misunderstanding.” Amal Ahmed Albar, Yasser’s daughter.

51 year old Yasser Ahmed Albaz was in Egypt on a 2 month business trip. Amal says all was fine until he went to leave the country a week ago.

“As soon as he went to the airport his passport was confiscated and he wasn’t allowed to fly.”

Now the Aakville family, who immigrated from Egpyt two decades ago, has been thrown into an unthinkable situation.

“An officer told him his name was flagged by the system and that was it. Maybe there was a similarity in names?”

He’s been questioned but has yet to be charged. He is now being held in the notorious Tora prison known to torture those inside.

“After the questioning they took him to the prison and no one has spoken to him since.”

Amal says over 2 000 letters of support have been sent to MP’s, foreign affairs minister Chrystia Freeland and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

If Albaz did nothing wrong, it wouldn’t be the first time a Canadian was detained unlawfully in Egypt. John Greyson and Dr. Tarek Loubani were arrested, beaten and spent seven weeks inside the Tora prison in Cairo. After diplomatic and public pressure the men were finally released.

Loubani took to social media saying, John Greyson and I were beaten and tortured in Egypt. Canadian Yasser Albaz is currently experiencing the same, and I pray he is not killed in the process. Canada must act swiftly and forcefully to bring him back.

Albaz is expected to be questioned again by authorities in Egypt Tuesday.

The family of a Canadian man detained in Egypt is calling on the federal government to intervene. They say Yasser Ahmed Albaz is being held without charge. The family says his passport was seized at the airport. He lives in Oakville, Ontario. We speak to his daughter Amal Ahmed Albaz

A Canadian man is detained in Egypt

The family of a Canadian man detained in Egypt is calling on the federal government to intervene. They say Yasser Ahmed Albaz is being held without charge. The family says his passport was seized at the airport. He lives in Oakville, Ontario. We speak to his daughter Amal Ahmed Albaz

Posted by Aarti Pole on Sunday, February 24, 2019

Read here: https://www.citynews1130.com/2019/02/24/family-calls-on-canadian-government-to-step-in-after-man-detained-in-egypt/

The family of a Canadian man detained in Egypt is calling on the federal government to step in after they were informed that he is being held in a notorious prison without charge.

Amal Ahmed Albaz says her family was “torn apart” last week when her father was stopped at Cairo International Airport and had his passport seized by Egyptian authorities.

She says her father, 51-year-old Yasser Ahmed Albaz, who lives in Oakville. Ont., had been in Egypt on a business trip for his engineering firm since December, and the family doesn’t know why he was detained and questioned.

Amal says her father’s lawyer told the family on Saturday night that Yasser is being held in a prison in Cairo, which has been the subject of concern from various human rights groups, but no charges have been laid and it is not known why he remains in custody.

A Global Affairs Canada spokesman says the government agency is aware that a Canadian citizen was detained in Egypt and consular services were provided, but he could not provide further information citing privacy concerns.

Amal says the lawyer told the family that Yasser will be questioned by Egyptian authorities again on Tuesday, but she is concerned for her father’s safety and hopes the Canadian government will get involved in bringing him home.

Read here: https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/detained-canadian-thrown-in-notorious-cairo-prison-without-charge-family-1.4310317

Amal Ahmed Albaz tells CTV News Channel that her father, Yasser Ahmed Albaz, was about to board a plane on his way back to Canada last Monday when he sent his family a message saying that he had been “flagged.” He later sent another message telling his family that he loves them, and then contact stopped.

“Yesterday my father was taken to the state security prosecutor’s office for questioning and we don’t know what this questioning is about,” Albaz told CTV News on Sunday.

Yasser Ahmed, who has been detained in Egypt, and his daughter, Amal Ahmed, are shown in this undated photo.

“Our family lawyer was informed and he was present for that. The Canadian embassy was also informed,” she said.

“After that, he was transported to Tora prison which is the worst prison in all of Egypt,” Albaz added. “We’re very, very concerned over my father’s safety.”

Human Rights Watch has described Tora as “the central site for those deemed enemies of the state.”

Albaz says that her father has been in Canada for two decades and that he runs an engineering firm in Oakville, Ont. She says she has no idea why he was detained.

“He has a client in Egypt and that’s why he was there for that time,” she said.

“My father has no political affiliations,” Albaz added. “He’s not politically active whatsoever. His business is engineering; it has nothing to do with state security or anything like that.”

Albaz said she hopes the Canadian government will intervene. Minister Freeland’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

“It’s like they’re trying to fish for something but there’s nothing to fish for,” Albaz added.

Friends at the Oakville mosque where Albaz sits on the board said that they are praying for him.

Ferras Marish has known Albaz for 15 years and says that he can’t think of any reason to justify the detention.

“The only thing I could think of is it’s just a name match,” Marish said, noting that it’s common in Middle Eastern countries for many people to share the same names.

Marish said he’s very concerned.

“We’re used to a just system where mistakes can happen but then once it’s cleared, it’s cleared,” he said. “Unfortunately, I don’t think that will be the case in Egypt.”