Egypt’s FM follows up on expat accused of smuggling drugs to KSA

CAIRO – 23 January 2020: The Egyptian Embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah announced they are following up on the case of a national who is accused of smuggling drugs to Saudi Arabia.

According to the Foreign Ministry’s statement, Saudi Court of Appeal has recently overruled a death sentence i against Aly Abul Qassem and ordered a retrial. The first session of the retrial has been set for February 16.

The Foreign Ministry said it is coordinating with Saudi Authorities concerned, stressing this comes as part of its efforts to protect the rights of Egyptian expats.

The Egyptian consulate, meanwhile, urged nationals residing in Saudi Arabia and Egyptians in Egypt to not circulate inaccurate news on social media networking sites. Cases probed by Saudi courts should not be tackled online, the consulate stressed, noting that this could harm Egyptian defendants.

Earlier in January, Egypt’s Embassy in Amman announced that it is following up on the collapse of part of a school wall in Irbid city, northern of Jordan, which led to the death of three Egyptian nationals and the injury of two others.

In a statement, the Ministry announced that the embassy contacted the local authorities in Irbid and some members of the Egyptian community to follow up and take all the necessary measures after the accident.

Consul Amr Yousry and labor advisor at the embassy Talaat al-Sayed headed to Irbid to follow up on the procedures of shipping the bodies of the three deceased citizens to Egypt, and to meet the injured.