The son of jailed Egyptian-born scholar, Sheikh Abdul Salam Jad Bassiouni has expressed concern over the treatment of his father, who has been held in a Cairo prison without charge since December. Bassiouni, who lives in and currently holds a South African passport, was arrested upon his arrive at the Cairo International Airport, with authorities yet to reveal the nature of his detention.

His son, Bilal Bassiouni was also held by Egyptian State Security before being released the following day. Since then he has actively fought for his father’s release. They were reportedly visiting Egypt as part of an annual family trip, as well as the engagement of Sheikh Bassiouni’s daughter.

Recounting the arrest on VOC’s Drivetime on Monday, Bassiouni said the entire family was stopped at airport control upon entry into the Egyptian capital. Although the rest of the family was released, Bassiouni and his father were taken to the State Security offices at the airport for interrogation.

“The questions were pertaining to the Muslim Brotherhood and the association to this organization, which we completely denied. We said that we have been living in South Africa for the past 25 years and we don’t have any political affiliation or anything to do with the Muslim Brotherhood,” he said.

With the scholar holding ‘very warm’ relations with the diplomatic missions that often visited South Africa from Egypt, the cross-questioning and detention was somewhat shocking for the family.

“I was kept until about 2am the next morning, while we arrived at about5:30am (the previous day). When I left there they promised me my father would join me in the morning, and I haven’t seen him since actually,” he noted.

Several family members including Sheikh Bassiouni’s wife have since stayed over in Egypt to fight for his release, receiving access to him either once a week or every fortnight.

Bassiouni said the family remained clueless as to why their father was being held, and that it could not possibly take five months for authorities to come up with a charge against him

Furthermore, the scholar has also reportedly injured himself during his time in prison, although the extent of a herniated disk remains unknown.

“The biggest worry for us is his medical situation. He hasn’t been examined and there hasn’t been an x-ray. He isn’t walking at the moment, but is rather being assisted to go to the bathroom and back and forth,” he highlighted, further declaring the treatment dehumanizing.

There has also been criticism at the response of the local department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco), despite assurances that they were interacting with their counterparts in Cairo.

“A South African citizen held against his will in arbitrary administrative detention, for no reason, for five months; I think there is enough of an obligation for South Africa to intervene immediately in securing the release of my father,” he said. VOC (Mubeen Banderker)