CAIRO: The saga of Mamdouh Fahmi, the 42-year-old Egyptian physician who has been unable to leave Saudi Arabia for 14 months, may come to an end today when his lawyer Naguib Gobrail meets the Saudi Ambassador to Egypt Hesham El Nazer.
Fahmi was accused by co-workers of allegedly spreading the teachings of Christianity and disrespecting Islam. These charges were dropped, but he has been unable to leave the country because his passport has been misplaced.
In a phone interview with Daily News Egypt, Fahmi discussed the details of his story which broke several weeks ago via Coptic online chat room Voice of the Opressed Christians and the weekly Coptic publication Watani.
Fahmi, a general surgeon, moved to Saudi Arabia in 2004 on contract with a small Saudi clinic. He was the only Christian employee at the clinic and said that three of his Egyptian colleagues – Dr. Abdel Fatah Sayed Ahmed, Dr. Mohammed Ragae and Dr. Ibrahim Fathy – were constantly mocking him, inviting him to pray with them and giving him Islamic books and audio sermons.
According to Fahmi, when Mary Jane, a Filipina nurse converted to Islam, Sayed Ahmed said he wished Fahmi would convert as well. He tried hard to persuade him, while describing Christianity as a transgressing religion and referring to the Bible as a fabricated book.
I calmly tried to explain why I m sticking with my religion, Fahmi said. But at the end of the conversation, he told me that I shouldn t speak about Christianity with such conviction; that I m a dangerous preacher.
But during a recent interview on Dream TV’s panel show “El-Haqiqa (The Truth), Sayed Ahmed asserted that he never discussed religion with Fahmi nor did he insult Christianity.
In April 2005, Fahmi claims he was dragged down the staircase of the clinic by an officer from Al Amr Bil Ma roof Wal Nahy An El Monkar committee – Saudi’s religious morality police – and driven to the committee s headquarters.
The officers accused him of consuming alcohol even though they refused to conduct any tests. The forces brought his briefcase from his flat, took out his Bible and asked him why he brought his Christian books to work. But Fahmi s denial of the charges though fell on deaf ears.
Despite the attempts of the clinic s owner to defend me and pay any amount of cash required, I was thrown in jail for five days without any official charges, Fahmi said.
On the sixth day, Fahmi discovered that his colleagues filed an official complaint against him, accusing him of spreading his Christian beliefs, disrespecting Islam and its practices, and sexually harassing his female co-workers, among several other accusations.
The charges were dropped and Fahmi was released without bail.
In February 2006, Fahmi’s contract with the clinic ended and he rejected the owner’s offer to extend it. When he asked to have his passport back, the owner told Fahmi that the authorities had seized it several months earlier.
However, the authorities said that they never took my passport, Fahmi said, and no one responded to the many complaints I filed.
Still unable to leave the country, Fahmi remains without work for 14 months now, and has since presented his case to several human rights organizations.
My problem is with my Egyptian colleagues, not with the Saudi government, Fahmi said.
Fahmi s case is a clear example of violating human rights and the right to freedom of mobility, Gobrail told Daily News Egypt.
He hopes that today s meeting with the Saudi Ambassador can put an end to Fahmi s predicament. If I m not given any solution to this problem from El Nazer today though, I will protest in front of the Saudi embassy.
The Saudi press attaché was unavailable for comment.
In the television interview with “El-Haqiqa, Sayed Ahmed recounted the problems he and other colleagues had with Fahmi and the reasons they filed the lawsuit.
Sayed Ahmed said Fahmi was deliberately offending Muslims by drinking water in front of us during Ramadan, drinking alcohol during prayer time and mocking Islam and us.
Sayed Ahmed also accused Fahmi of hitting him for listening to the Quran on tape aloud.
I don t believe it s reasonable for one man to go against an entire community of Muslims, Fahmi said in response to these accusations.
Ahmed Abdel Hamid, another of Fahmi’s colleagues, said he believes Fahmi s audacious behavior is backed by some external groups.
One Muslim nurse at the hospital stopped praying, and began using some Christian expressions, Sayed Ahmed continued. Several Christian papers and documents were found later and were immediately burnt.
Sayed Ahmed admitted that he never saw those documents, but said that other nurses did. He refused to name the nurse in question for fear that her family might harm her.
The Voice of the Opressed Christinas room managed to conduct a phone interview with the nurse, Souad Mohammed, who refuted these claims. She said Fahmi never preached anything to me and called her colleagues accusations complete lies.
The nurse said that she worked closely with Fahmi and never saw him drinking or behaving in any inappropriate manner. She also said that Fahmi s colleagues tried to sway her to their side in their war against him.
They [Fahmi s peers] might try to get me for saying that, but I don t care.
In another incident, Sayed Ahmed filed a lawsuit against Fahmi following a brawl between the two, after which he was sentenced to seven days in prison.
Sayed Ahmed accused me of spitting on his face and presented two witnesses who didn t see the fight, Fahmi said.
The Saudi court sentenced him to 20 whips. Fahmi appealed the decision and is still waiting for a court ruling, but the court is yet to set a date for the hearing.
Meanwhile, he awaits the results of his lawyer’s meeting with the ambassador in the hope they will find a way for him to leave the country and return to Egypt.
