DUSHANBE, June 8, 2009, Asia-Plus — Egyptian authorities yesterday deported three of 15 Tajik students that were detained in a police raid on Al-Azhar University in Cairo on May 27.
According to the MFA information department, the deported students namely Shavkat Kimzsanov, Khurshed Ermatov and Alamsho Sharifov are currently in Moscow.
We will recall that more than 150 foreign students, including 15 Tajik nationals, were detained in a police raid on Al-Azhar University in Cairo on May 27. Six of Tajik students were released the same day and four others were released on May 30.
Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, the MFA spokesman Davlat Nazriyev said on June 5 that Tajik students had visa problems; two of them have even not been registered with the Tajik Embassy in Cairo. Since the students arrived in Egypt for studying on their own they will be deported to Tajikistan on their own, he added.
As it had been reported earlier, five Tajik students were supposed to be deported. “The issue of deportation of Faridoun Gulov and Idibek Ziyovuddinov is still open and it cannot be ruled out that they may continue studying in Egypt,” the spokesman said.
In the meantime, Radio Liberty reported on June 4 that police in Cairo on May 27 detained some 150 students from former Soviet countries who are studying at Al-Azhar University. They gave no explanation for the detentions.
One student, Halim Mohammad, told RFE/RL that it is unclear why he and his fellow students were detained. He said there was no interrogation, questioning, or charges made during their three days in detention. Another Tajik student, Safar Tohiri, who returned to Tajikistan before the arrests were made, says it is very likely that the detentions were the result of visa problems, adding that some Russian and Kazakh students at Al-Azhar University had entered Egypt with tourist visas which they later changed to student visas.
