Saturday was a good day for two Ramys and one Saudi princess

Saturday was really a good day for political activists Ramy Shaath and Ramy Kamel as well as Princess Basma bint Saud they were released from detention following their arrest from more than 2 years ago in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Ramy Shaath "AFP" and Ramy Kamel 

First , political activist Ramy Shaath arrived Paris after spending 900 days in pre-trial detention in Egypt. Shaath was released on 6 January and was deported to Amman before heading to Paris.

Ramy Shaath is the head of Egypt’s BDS chapter aka The Boycott, Divestment and Sanction of Israel movement.

Shaath was arrested in 2019 in Egypt was accused of joining a terrorist organization and spreading false news.

Those charges he has completely denied till this day. After his arrest , a huge campaign launched calling for his release in Egypt and abroad especially in France thanks to his French wife Celine Le Brun

Ramy and Celine on Saturday in Paris "APF"

Ramy Shaath is lucky to have Celine Le Brun by his side through thick and thin.

I also can’t ignore the role of his sister veteran photojournalist Randa Shaath and his daughter in Cairo as well as his father veteran Palestinian PLO official and political Nabil Shaath.

Ramy is half Egyptian already from his mother side and lived in Egypt most of his life where he graduated from the American University in Cairo. His brother is late prominent IT activist Ali Shaath.

Unfortunately  Shaath had to renounce his Egyptian nationality. Hopefully inshallah he will get it back one day.

The Shaath’s family expressed their sorrow that the price of his freedom was renouncing the Egyptian nationality according to their official statement issued on Saturday as well as his father’s statements to Arab News.

Dr Nabil Shaath revealed that the Egyptian authorities wanted to deported his son to Palestine but his family rejected that because they were worried that he would get arrested by the Israelis.

May be this is why his release took some time after Mohamed Anwar Sadat’s announcement.

French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the news of Shaath’s release and arrival to Paris on his official Twitter account.

Je salue la décision des autorités égyptiennes de remettre Ramy Shaath en liberté. Je partage le soulagement de son épouse Céline Le Brun, qu’il retrouve en France, avec qui nous n’avons rien lâché. Merci à tous ceux qui ont joué un rôle positif dans cette heureuse issue.

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 8, 2022

Ramy gave a word to the media upon his arrival to Paris and I guess his Egyptian passport was taken from him but Egypt can’t be taken from him.

Moving to the other Ramy.

Human rights lawyer Huda Nasrallah announced Saturday afternoon that Egyptian Coptic rights activist Ramy Kamel was also released and returned to his home after being detained over two years in pre-trial detentions. on terrorism charges.

Ramy Kamel 

Kamel was arrested in November 2019. He is the head of Maspero Youth Group that focused on the rights of the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox community following the 2011 revolution.

This is refreshing and good news on Saturday.

Moving to the Saudi Princess.

BBC News reported on Saturday that Princess Basma bint Saud who is known of being outspoken and supporting constitutional reforms in Saudi Arabia has been released in the King along her daughter after their detention in 2019.

Princess Basma "Forbes"

It is unclear why the Saudi authority or rather Mohamed bin Salman ordered the arrest of Princess Basma but I assume she spoke publicly or even privately in an unacceptable way criticizing him for instance !?

According to BBC News, the Princess is heading to Switzerland for treatment and may be she was released because she was tired and can’t stay too long in custody. 

Hopefully more of good news like these are coming in the way inshallah.