The family of an Egyptian citizen who had resided in Sudan for nearly five years announced that he was detained by the Passport Authority at the Khartoum Airport for more than an hour, before being allowed to board the Badr Airlines flight to Turkey.
Khartoum: AlTaghyeer
The family of the Egyptian citizen Hossam Menoufy revealed new details about his arrest at Luxor International Airport, following an emergency landing made by a Badr Airlines flight on its way to Turkey.
The Egyptian authorities accused Menoufy of being one of the founders of the “Hasm” group; a group banned in Egypt and classified as a terrorist group by the United States of America.
Menoufy’s wife, Rufaida Madkour, revealed through her Facebook account that Menoufy had been detained by the Passports Authority at the airport in Khartoum for over an hour, before finally allowing him to board his flight.
“We later learned of Badr Airlines’ version of the story,” she said.
Badr Airlines announced that flight J4690 had landed at the Luxor Airport after the smoke detection alarm went off in the cargo cabin.
“Later, it turned out that it was a false alarm, and this caused the plane to be sent to the maintenance center in Europe,” Badr’s statement said.
Rufaida confirmed that her husband had legally resided in Sudan for five years to escape persecution from the Egyptian authorities.
“He tried to find a job opportunity to provide a decent life for me and his young children, and he lived in it peacefully and everyone who dealt with him bears witness to this,” Rufaida added.
She held the the National Security and the Egyptian authorities responsible for her husband’s safety, and called for revealing his whereabouts and the reasons for his disappearance from Luxor Airport.
She expressed her fears that her husband might be subjected to torture that would threaten his life and safety.
Menoufy’s last contact with his family was from Luxor Airport, during which he asked them to withdraw his passport, according to his wife’s statement.
