The Egyptian State Security Prosecution started investigating the Egyptian businessman, Mr. Mohamed Mahmoud Al-Ajiz, after he was extradited from Bahrain, based on an Interpol red notice as he was tried in absentia in Egypt over political charges.
Bahraini authorities earlier deported Mohamed Mahmoud el-Agez, who hods both Egyptian and Turkish citizenship, and Muhammad al-Iraq Saad Hassanein to Egypt amid rights concerns about their safety.
Al-Ajiz, 59, is a businessman and father of eight children who has lived in Bahrain for the past eight years. He was sentenced to jail in Egypt for political reasons.
Hassanein, 45, is a computer engineer and a father of three. He has been living in Bahrain for eight years, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia based on the Rabaa sit-in case in 2013.
The Bahraini security forces arrested El-Agezand Hassanein on August 2 from their place of work, before handing them over to the Egyptian authorities a few days later.
Rights concerns were raised over the lives of the two men, as they may face inhumane conditions and the possibility of torture and enforced disappearance due to the political nature of their cases.
The Bahraini decision to hand over El-Agezand Hassanein came in total violation of Article 3 of the “Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,” which prohibits the forcible deportation of people to their countries, for fear of their possible exposure to torture.
Egypt, which enjoys close ties with Bahrain, has been using Interpol red notices to target political opponents abroad since President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi seized power in a military coup in 2013
At least 60,000 political prisoners are estimated to have been jailed in the last decade amid very difficult detention conditions.
