A coalition of 12 human rights organisations including ALQST have sent a joint letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, urgently calling on the Trump administration to help secure the immediate release of Ahmed Kamel from detention in Saudi Arabia, where he faces imminent extradition to Egypt on bogus charges.
Extraditing Kamel would break up an American family, leaving his wife and two young children, all U.S. citizens, without their husband and father. It would also place Ahmed at grave risk of torture and other severe human rights violations, a clear breach of Saudi Arabia’s international legal obligation to respect the principle of non-refoulement.
You can find the letter in full below.
The Honorable Marco Rubio
Secretary of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary Rubio,
We, the undersigned organizations, are writing to urgently request the Trump administration to help secure the immediate release of Ahmed Kamel from detention in Saudi Arabia, where he faces imminent extradition to Egypt on bogus charges. Extraditing Kamel would break up an American family, leaving his wife and two young children, all U.S. citizens, without their husband and father. It would also place Ahmed at grave risk of torture and other severe human rights violations, a clear breach of Saudi Arabia’s international legal obligation to respect the principle of non-refoulement.
Ahmed Fathi Kamel, an Egyptian citizen, peacefully participated in protests in Egypt in 2011 and 2013. He was arrested in January 2014 and subjected to torture by Egyptian authorities. After his release, he completed his mandatory military service with distinction. Then in 2015, he pursued a career opportunity in Saudi Arabia, where he has resided lawfully ever since. Despite building a life in Saudi Arabia, including marrying and raising two young children with his wife, Kamel was sentenced by an Egyptian court in absentia in 2017 to 25 years in prison for his involvement in the protests. Months before his sentence in absentia, he traveled back to Egypt for two months to visit his family without incident.
Seven years later, on November 13, 2024, Kamel was arrested in Saudi Arabia following an extradition request issued by Egypt on charges that relate to the exercise of his right to freedom of assembly. He remains detained in Jeddah and faces imminent deportation. This potential extradition raises grave concerns due to Egypt’s systematic use of torture and other forms of ill-treatment, particularly against opposition figures, critics, and peaceful protesters.
Kamel’s case is emblematic of a troubling trend of transnational repression in the Middle East and North Africa. Authoritarian governments are increasingly collaborating, through mechanisms such as the Arab Interior Ministers Council, to target anyone perceived as a critic, even those such as Ahmed, who has been politically inactive for over 10 years now and is trying to build a new life in another country. This growing trend extends the arms of oppression across borders, putting anyone at risk throughout the region, including Americans and their family members.
The arrest and detention of Ahmed Kamel have had devastating consequences for his family. His wife has been forced to care for their two young children alone in Saudi Arabia, unable to return to her home in the United States with her whole family as she fights for her husband's freedom. His wife sent a plea to the Saudi government last week, in which she explained, “I am a nursing mother in a country I’m only still getting to know, struggling to stay strong for my children as we risk losing the pillar of our family.”
Ahmed Kamel’s continued detention and imminent extradition are unjustifiable and must be halted immediately. We urge the Trump administration to do everything it can to keep this American family whole by urging Saudi Arabia to refrain from deporting him to Egypt and to release him immediately.
Signed,
- ALQST for Human Rights
- Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
- DAWN
- Egyptian Front for Human Rights
- FairSquare
- HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement
- Law and Democracy Support Foundation - LDSF
- MENA Rights Group
- Middle East Democracy Center (MEDC)
- REDWORD For Human Rights & Freedom of Expression
- Start Point
- Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP)
