Egypt deports son of Chechen rebel leader to Moscow
By Cynthia Johnston
CAIRO, June 19 (Reuters) - Egypt deported the son of a Chechen rebel leader to Moscow on Friday despite concerns the 22-year-old student was at heightened risk of torture if returned to Russia, Amnesty International said.
The deportation of Maskhud Abdullaev comes ahead of a visit to Cairo on Tuesday by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, whose country has fought two wars since the mid-1990s to crush Muslim separatists in Chechnya.
Rights group Amnesty International said Abdullaev, son of rebel leader Supyan Abdullaev, was deported on a flight to Moscow along with another fellow Chechen, both arrested in security sweeps targetting foreign students in May.
Egypt had deported four other Chechens on Thursday to Moscow, which has strong ties with Cairo but whose relations have been strained in recent weeks due to a trade tussle over the quality of Russian wheat exported to Egypt.
"The Egyptian authorities are again returning people to countries where they would be at risk of torture in total disregard to the principle of non-refoulement," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa programme of Amnesty International.
"We fear more students might be detained in Egypt and face the same risk of deportation," she added in a statement sent to Reuters. Amnesty said the deported Chechens were believed to have held refugee status in Azerbaijan, where they lived before coming to Egypt to study.
An Interior Ministry spokesman had no immediate comment.
Abdullaev was among dozens of foreign students detained in May in security sweeps linked to an Egyptian probe into a bomb attack in February that killed a French teenager in a popular Cairo tourist area, Amnesty said.
That bombing was the first fatal attack on tourists in Egypt since bombs killed at least 23 people in the Sinai peninsula in 2006 in an attack Egypt blamed on Bedouin with militant views.
Egypt has blamed the bazaar bombing on militants with links to Al Qaeda, and arrested seven people in May on suspicion of involvement. The suspects in Egyptian custody include several foreigners but no Chechens.
Amnesty said Egypt began rounding up foreign students after an announcement by the Interior Ministry that the suspects arrested over the bazaar bombing had been recruiting foreigners, including students. (Writing by Cynthia Johnston)
