Thai student held in Egypt for suspected links to IS extremist group
A Thai student is being held by the Egyptian security agency in Cairo on suspicion of having links to the Islamic State (IS) extremist group.
The Thai Embassy in Cairo said in its Facebook post on Saturday that the Thai student, whose name was withheld, was detained by Egyptian security officials on September 24th after IS-related images, and a social media clip of the student claiming that he supports Islamic revolution in Egypt were found on his smartphone.
The Embassy said that it is closely monitoring the case and has sent a letter to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry to seek permission to visit the detainee. They say they are also coordinating with senior foreign service officials, adding that the Embassy’s letter has already been passed on to the security agency.
The Embassy said that it had also sought help from the Grand Imam and contacted the Egyptian security agency for permission to visit the student.
As a precautionary measure, the Embassy warned Thais traveling in Egypt to avoid high risk places and warned Thai students to refrain from getting involved in the domestic politics of Egypt.
The Embassy said that it is very concerned about the safety of the detained student because his case concerns security affairs, which the Egyptian authorities take extremely seriously, adding that it continues to explore other channels to seek help.
