Yasser Albaz , arbitrarily imprisoned for 500 days

BY OMNIYA ALI

Losing a loved one is one of the most difficult situations anyone could go through. The Albaz family had to experience this in its most horrific form. After a business trip back to Egypt, Yasser Albaz, who is an Egyptian Canadian Engineer, was due to come back to Canada on February 18^th, 2019. Upon his arrival to the airport his passport was confiscated, and he was denied the right to fly. Albaz was essentially kidnapped by national state security and his family lost all communication with him for five days. Not knowing what was ahead of them, the family of Albaz hadn’t anticipated that those initial days would be the least of their worries. Yasser Albaz remained under arbitrary imprisonment in Torah prison in Egypt for a full year and a half; 500 days. In that time Albaz missed several milestones and his family lived in constant agony over his state of health and chances of survival.

In an interview with Global News, his daughter Amal Albaz explained that “under international law, he was subjected to enforced disappearance which was very concerning. It was the most terrifying five days ever, we had no idea if he was even alive, and since that moment, the moment we lost communication with my father we picked up the phone and we called the emergency consular line, so Ottawa’s been on the loop since day one.”

All while living in constant fear, the Albaz family fought tooth and nail to gain national attention over his case. Through constant protests, petitions, social media posts as well as contacting MPs and the Prime Minister, they were able to determine that no criminal charges were found, not a single allegation or accusation was pinned on Yasser Albaz. It must be absolutely clear that Yasser Albaz’s detention was unlawful and arbitrary, his human rights were continuously violated with little attention from the Canadian government.

In the past month the Muslim/Arab community in Ontario stood together and fought even harder by protesting for a full week as Yasser Albaz’s life was threatened by the coronavirus and was quickly deteriorating due to the lack of medical attention in Torah prison. Finally, the efforts brought forth action and Prime Minister Trudeau spoke to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi as well as Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne who spoke to his Egyptian counterparts last month about the case. Yasser Albaz was reunited with his family in Canada on Thursday, July 2^nd, 2020, a day for celebration.

Although the Albaz family can return back to living in peace together, their lives have been forever changed. The events that were undergone by their father in the past two years are not easy to look past, which is why the efforts that were made to bring Yasser Albaz home must continue. They must continue because there are thousands like him, learn his name, learn his case, and continue to stand in solidarity to prevent this from happening to more families. Profiling and arbitrary targeting are not things of the past, they continue to occur everyday and continue to receive little to no media attention. It is our job to remain aware and lend our voices to those that cannot speak.