Sameh Khouzam

NGOs, Religious Leaders Call on US to Halt Deportation of Coptic Christian to Egypt Written by Eastern Media Group 27 June 2009 Sameh Khouzam Washington --

Faith groups, non-governmental organizations, and religious leaders from across the political spectrum have called on the US Government to prevent the deportation of Sameh Khouzam, a Coptic Christian, back to Egypt. In letters to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, and Solicitor General Elena Kagan, the leaders point out that "The U.S. Government has sought to return him to Egypt based on diplomatic assurances from the Egyptian Government that he will not be tortured upon return. In light of the Second Circuit's finding, and Egypt's well-documented record of consistently engaging in torture against its own citizens in general and religious minorities in particular, we find it unconscionable that the U.S. Government would take at face value a 'diplomatic assurance' from the Egyptian Government that Mr. Khouzam will not be tortured upon his return." For over ten years, Mr. Khouzam has engaged in a drawn out immigration struggle with the US Government.
 

In 1998, Mr. Khouzam was imprisoned in Egypt where he had been strongly "encouraged" to convert from Christianity. Soon after his release, he fled Egypt for the United States to escape further torture and religious persecution at the hands of the Egyptian Government. Upon his arrival in New York, he was hospitalized to recover from physical abuse resulting from his detainment in Egypt. Soon after, the US government arrested him upon receiving information from Egypt authorities about Mr. Khouzam's in absentia murder conviction: a claim that Mr. Khouzam vigorously disputes. In 2004 Khouzam fought deportation in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

 The Court ruled that Mr. Khouzam was likely to be tortured if returned to Egypt, thus obliging the US Government to adhere to the Convention Against Torture (CAT) and abstain from deporting Mr. Khouzam. However, in 2007 Mr. Khouzam's CAT protection was terminated after Egypt made diplomatic assurances to the US Government that Mr. Khouzam would not be harmed. Again, Mr. Khouzam was detained by the US Government.

In 2008, Mr. Khouzam faced a Third Circuit Court of Appeals case in Pennsylvania that unanimously ruled that the Government had violated the Due Process Clause by terminating his CAT relief without providing him the opportunity to test the reliability of Egypt's diplomatic assurances. However, the Third Circuit Court did not legally bar the US Government from deporting Mr. Khouzam, leaving the possibility of his expulsion from the US and the possibility of again facing torture at the hands of Egyptian authorities. "It is incumbent on the United States Government to stand in support of the inalienable rights endowed upon all humankind," the letter states. "The right to be free of torture is one such inalienable right.

 It would be un-American to return Mr. Khouzam to Egypt in light of that country's abysmal human rights record, its practice of persecuting religious minorities, its prior torture and religious persecution of Mr. Khouzam himself, and the Second Circuit's finding that he would more likely than not be tortured if returned to Egypt.

We therefore request that you immediately intervene in Mr. Khouzam's case to ensure that he is not returned to Egypt." The full text of the letter can be found on the Institute's website.