Egyptian dissidents abroad have told Middle East Eye they are being denied the right to renew their passports and identity documents as a means of pressuring them to return home to Egypt.
In 2017, the well-known Egyptian journalist Hosam Yahia, then based in Qatar, tried to renew his passport a year before it expired. The Egyptian embassy in Doha gave him a one-year renewal instead of the standard seven years, which surprised him.
When Yahia asked for a reason, embassy staff said he was due for conscription, despite having submitted the necessary documents proving his exemption. They promised him that the next time he renewed his passport, it would be for seven years.
In the following months, a local Egyptian media campaign was launched against the Qatari state-backed Al Jazeera channel and Egyptians who work there, including Yahia.
Relations between Egypt and Qatar had deteriorated after the Egyptian military overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood-backed government of President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
The coup was supported by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, while Qatar condemned it. Al Jazeera, which had unsettled Qatar’s neighbours, including Egypt, with its favourable coverage of the Arab Spring protests, had its local Egyptian affiliate closed down shortly after Abdel Fattah el-Sisi took power in CairoIn the meantime, Yahia’s family home in Egypt had been searched by security agents, and his Doha address had been posted on social media, a move he considers “political retaliation.”
The Al Jazeera presenter tried to renew his passport for another year, but the embassy employees advised him to either go back to Egypt or see the military attache in Abu Dhabi. Yahia was wary of visiting the UAE since it had previously expelled Egyptian dissidents. The embassy was adamant.
In 2014, Yahia departed Egypt and hasn’t spoken to his family since. He is aware of how risky it could be to return given that his Al Jazeera colleagues Rabie al-Sheikh, Hisham Abdelaziz, and Bahauddin Ibrahim are all currently detained in Egyptian jails.
Without a current passport, Yahia is unable to renew his residency visa or find employment in Qatar.The only remaining option. “In June 2019, I applied for asylum in the UK. I felt that I was going to the unknown without any will from me,” Yahia told MEE.
