Adly Al-Qazzaz was released on bail from Tora prison for health reasons in the early hours of Wednesday morning, according to his family.
Al-Qazzaz, who is scheduled for open-heart surgery on Friday, is the father of Khaled Al-Qazzaz, an aide to former president Mohamed Morsi. Seventy-year-old Al-Qazzaz was arrested from his home in October 2013 and questioned by the prosecution “on accusations of joining and funding the Muslim Brotherhood”, said his daughter Mona Al-Qazzaz on Wednesday, who added: “there is no evidence against him”.
“He [Al-Qazzaz] suffered two heart attacks in prison and his health deteriorated very quickly”, said Mona. He also “suffers from hypertension, arrhythmia, diabetes, congestive heart failure and was scheduled for a bilateral knee replacement surgery”.
Mona stressed her father is not a member of the Brotherhood, which has been outlawed in Egypt and listed as a terrorist organisation. Al-Qazzaz “has never been supportive of [the Brotherhood]; he only supported his son’s political career, which is understandable,” she said.
Mona says she has applied for her fathers release several times. She said, “Our appeal got accepted once three months ago but before he was released, the prosecutor appealed and his detention was renewed”.
Al-Qazzaz “has over 40 years of experience in education and creating education systems in Egypt and in the Gulf,” said Mona. “Our schools and financial assets were some of the first to be confiscated last year.” The family believes Al-Qazzaz’s continued detention is connected to a “personal vendetta” by the current education minister, who, Mona said, “has been pushing for my dad’s arrest and calling for it in many public statements.”
Mona said her father was released on bail and “has not been cleared completely”, adding that it was unclear if he is subject to a travel ban.
Khaled Al-Qazzaz was Morsi’s secretary on foreign relations and was arrested with the former president and other aides when Morsi was overthrown on 3 July 2013. Mona reported her brother’s pre-trial detention was recently renewed for 45 days and is yet to be charged.
