CAIRO: Ahmed Abdel Latif Sherif was a promising student from a well-connected family who spent his days playing sports at the Heliopolis Club, say relatives. He was so bright that as a fresh graduate of Ain Shams University he was hired to teach in its Faculty of Engineering.
He always wanted to study abroad and last year his dream came true when he was awarded a scholarship for graduate study in the United States. But Sherif’s dream has turned into a nightmare, says his family.
He now sits in solitary confinement in a Florida jail cell, accused by the United States government of explosives charges. Rather than teaching engineering, they say, he was giving lessons to would-be terrorists in the construction and detonation of bombs.
Abdel Latif Sherif, Ahmed’s father and the vice chairman of the National Authority for Tunnels, firmly rejects the American government’s charges.
“We are sure that he is innocent and did not do anything bad to anyone in America or to the community he lives in, Sherif told Daily News Egypt. “These are false charges.
Ahmed’s troubles began when he and a friend, Egyptian-American Yousef Megahed, were pulled over for speeding on a South Carolina highway on Aug. 4, near a navy base housing weapons facilities.
Ahmed’s family says he and Megahed were taking a vacation to celebrate his twenty-sixth birthday, but according to police they were carrying weapons and an explosive device in their car.
They were detained and charged with possession of explosives in the state of South Carolina, and were then transferred to Tampa, Florida, where they both attend the University of South Florida. There they were charged with transporting explosives across state lines, and Ahmed was additionally charged with teaching the use of an explosive device.
Ahmed’s father says that his son was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that the charges against his son are a mixed up case of racial profiling.
“They are only saying he is a terrorist because he had a long beard at the time he was arrested, because he did not shave for maybe two or three days before his vacation, just like any other young man might not shave, says Sherif.
“I am sure that he was targeted because of the way he looks – because he is Arab and wore a long beard, he added. “If he was white, and not a little bit colored like he is, then he would not be having any of these problems.
Sherif and his wife have been able to speak to Ahmed only once in the month that he has been imprisoned in Florida, and say that he sounds well. He fervently believes he is innocent, they say, and has put his faith in God to protect him.
Thanks to his father’s connections as a prominent government official, Ahmed also has more earthly forces coming to his assistance in prison.
Sherif says that a range of officials in ministries across the government, in particular the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Higher Education, are working to help the family.
They arranged for Ahmed to speak with his parents from inside the prison and are going to pay for an American legal team to seek his release.
“I arranged to speak to my son through high level authorities. They are doing more than you can imagine for us, says Sherif. “They are taking all the necessary actions and are doing their best to help us with this matter. “They are doing everything that is required to deal with this subject, even as we speak, he added. “I am in contact with them daily.
It is unclear what role his father’s connections may play in Ahmed’s criminal case. As a non-citizen he has few rights in the United States, and as a suspect in a terrorism case he may be afforded even fewer. The maximum penalty for the two charges against him is 30 years in prison.
In the meantime, the Sherif family begins Ramadan under a cloud of uncertainty and worry.
“Our family is living in a very bad situation, he says. “We are very depressed. We are angry. We are unhappy. We are sure that he is innocent.
If he is allowed to meet with his son, Sherif says he will go to him right away.
“If I can get an appointment to meet him, then I will go to see Ahmed and how he is being treated in America. I don’t want to go anywhere in this world anymore, I just want to go see my son.
