Egyptian dissident with newborn released in Oman following pressure

An Egyptian dissident has been released from Omani detention to return home with her newborn baby after avoiding extradition to her homeland on false claims of an Interpol red notice.

Mariam Abdelbasette had been held since 25 May at the Medical City Hospital for Military Agencies in the Omani capital Muscat after requiring a caesarean section to deliver her baby.

Oman had claimed that it was complying with an Interpol red notice to remove Abdelbasette from the Gulf state and return her to Egypt, following her husband Ahmed Mousa, who was forcibly deported to Egypt on 9 April and subsequently imprisoned.

According to the Berlin-based rights group Law and Democracy Support Foundation (LDSF), Abdelbasette faces likely arrest in a case in Egypt involving charges of “leading a terrorist organisation,” “spreading false news,” “unlawful assembly,” and “incitement to civil disobedience".

Her lawyer Ben Keith told Middle East Eye that she was still trapped in legal limbo waiting for the Omani authorities to issue a birth certificate for her new child, after which she may be allowed to leave.

However, he said a combination of media pressure and intervention from Ben Saul, UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, had prevented her deportation and imprisonment in Egypt.

"She's home, she’s not in custody, but she is still a virtual prisoner…she can’t travel without a birth certificate," he said.

"[Oman] were absolutely livid at the press. They were livid at the social media and article and asked us to take them down. We ignored them."

Red Notices are requests filed by Interpol member states asking law enforcement agencies in other member states to locate and provisionally arrest wanted people. Member states decide whether to act on a red notice in accordance with their own laws.

However, there is no evidence of a notice for Abdelbasette on Interpol's public database and her lawyer Ben Keith believes the Omanis' claims as such are false.

Husband deported

Abdelbasette's husband was arrested on 26 March after being summoned from his workplace.

On 9 April, he was informed that he would be released - instead, however, he was taken to Muscat Airport and forcibly deported to Egypt.

'She's home, she’s not in custody, but she's still a virtual prisoner…she can’t travel without a birth certificate'

- Ben Keith, lawyer

LDSF said he was deported solely based on a verbal notification of an alleged Interpol request, without provision of any written decision, judicial order, or official documentation to him or his family.

His current whereabouts remain unknown, despite pleas from his family to the public prosecutor in Egypt.

Abdelbasette was then informed that a travel ban had been imposed on her in Oman and that any attempt to leave the country could see her removed to Egypt as well.

Egypt ranks 18 out of 100 in Freedom House's Freedom in the World index, which measures political rights and civil liberties in 208 countries, with higher rankings indicating less freedom.

Human rights groups estimate that more than 60,000 political prisoners are languishing in Egyptian prisons.

Human Rights Watch has described the Egyptian government as being engaged in "wholesale repression, systematically detaining and punishing peaceful critics and activists and effectively criminalising peaceful dissent".

MEE previously contacted the Oman media attache in London for comment on Abdelbasette's situation, but received no response.