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A father of five has been detained in Egypt for over two years allegedly because of a post he made in a Facebook group of converts from Christianity to Islam. Now, he is declaring a hunger strike over the injustice he says he has experienced.
Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo, originally from Yemen, was part of a Christian Facebook group that discussed Islamic theology and apologetics, according to ADF International. In 2021, Abdo was arrested for his Facebook post while he was living as a UNHCR registered asylum seeker in Egypt, as he faced death threats in Yemen after converting to Christianity.
On August 7, Abdo wrote an emotional letter to his family explaining his decision to begin a strike in protest of his two and a half year detention without trial. His health is reportedly rapidly deteriorating. Now, religious freedom advocates, including ADF International, are calling for his urgent release.
In a statement provided to Fox News Digital, Abdo's wife said: "My husband, Abdulbaqi Saeed, has been detained in Egyptian prisons since December 2021 without any real charges against him. This was only because he spoke about his religious beliefs on social media."
In his letter, which has been translated from Arabic and reviewed by Fox News Digital, Abdo vowed to strike in stages up until completion, including turning away health care treatment and eventually food, as described by his wife.
"He has now completed 2 years, 8 months in pretrial detention, which is in violation of Egypt law," she continued. "My husband suffers from heart, liver and kidney diseases, and his health condition is deteriorating. He started a medication strike two weeks ago and plans to escalate to a full hunger strike gradually over the next month in protest of his unjust and arbitrary detention."
Abdulbaqi Abdo. (ADF International)
"I refuse to take treatment from the person who is responsible for health care in the prison," Abdo wrote. "And I requested from him to tell the management in the prison that I am doing so."
"I am going to increase my strike in stages until it will be total during the coming weeks," he continued. "And the reason of my strike that they arrested me without any legal justification. Or that they convicted me for any violation of the law. And they did not set me free during my remand imprisonment which was ended 8 months ago."
"I love you all, Daddy," Abdo concluded in the letter to his family.
Egyptian authorities reportedly arrested Abdo, along with another Christian man named Nour Girgis, after their affiliation with the Facebook page was discovered, ADF international said. Now, authorities are "spuriously claiming they were involved with terrorism activities."
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and founder of the AHA Foundation, said in a statement to Fox News Digital that the idea that ordinary people can be locked in tiny cells 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 and must release him back to his family immediately."
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.
"Whether his Christian faith—what he thinks and prays and says privately—is offensive to extremist Islamists is of precisely zero interest to civilized people anywhere," she said.
"The world should take note of what the Egyptian government does," she added. "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 UK to Egypt—free speech must urgently be defended from our age’s resurgent Stalinism."
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Kelsey Zorzi, the director of advocacy for global religious freedom at ADF International, said nobody should be imprisoned for expressing their Christian beliefs on social media.
"This devastating cry for help from Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo must not be ignored, and it is past time for Egyptian authorities to release him and Nour Girgis from their unwarranted and unlawful detention," she said. "We are utilizing every mechanism available to ensure that both men are released and returned to their families."
Abdo’s letters.
She said the detentions are "gross human rights violations" perpetrated by the Egyptian authorities, exposing how laws in Egypt are being abused to punish those with minority views and beliefs like Christianity.
"Governments across the world are failing to uphold appropriate legal standards for freedom of religion and speech, allowing rampant criminalization of social media posts and religious practice to go unchecked," she added. "Whether in the Middle East, Europe or elsewhere, we must urgently do better to protect basic human rights, and allow each individual to freely hold and express their own beliefs."
The two men have been moved to different detention centers in Egypt while their criminal trials have been repeatedly postponed, according to ADF International. Their families and lawyers have reportedly been allowed to visit occasionally.
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief have received information on behalf of Girgis and Abdo, according to ADF International. The groups believe both men have been deprived of their right to religious freedom and a fair trial under international law.
U.S. Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey, who serves as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Global Human Rights Subcommittee and co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, described Abdo's detainment as "a grave and grotesque violation of his human rights."
"News of his hunger strike makes it more urgent than ever that he be released," he told Fox News Digital. "I appeal to the government to release Abdo into a safe situation, and I appeal to UNHCR to protect and prioritize vulnerable or endangered applicants, including Christian converts from Islam and those accused of blasphemy."
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