“Turkish authorities reject citizenship for Egyptian Brotherhood preacher Wajdi Ghoneim”

The Turkish authorities refused to grant the Egyptian Brotherhood preacher, convicted to death, Wajdi Ghoneim, her nationality.

Ghoneim said in a video broadcast on social media that although he was happy and happy that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won a new presidential term for 5 years, he was saddened by Ankara’s refusal to grant him citizenship.

He also added that he had applied for residency and citizenship 9 years ago until now, hoping that he would be allowed freedom of movement and access to treatment in Turkey, but he was surprised by the government’s rejection, hours before Erdogan’s victory was announced, indicating that he was looking for a new country. Shelter him after he was no longer able to live and reside in Turkey.

In addition, Al-Arabiya.net learned that the Turkish authorities refused to grant citizenship to a number of young men and members of the Muslim Brotherhood, including media figures and journalists, without providing explanations or justifications. They also refused to renew residency for a number of others, which means refusing their presence in the country and leaving its lands.

terrorist acts

In 2017, the Cairo Criminal Court had sentenced the preacher Wajdi Ghoneim and some of his co-accused members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death by hanging, unanimously, on charges of establishing a cell called the “Wajdi Ghoneim cell” to commit terrorist acts and bombings in Egypt.

The Egyptian prosecution charged the fugitive preacher and others with him with the fact that, from 2013 to October 2015, they established a group that is against the law, the purpose of which is to call for disrupting the provisions of the constitution and laws, preventing state institutions and public authorities from carrying out their work, attacking the personal freedom of citizens, and harming national unity and social peace. .

The prosecution also confirmed that the preacher assumed the leadership of the group that calls for expiation of the ruler and the legitimacy of revolting against him, changing the system of government by force, and profaning the blood of Christians and their places of worship.

Who is Wajdi Ghoneim?

Wajdi Ghoneim, whose full name is Wajdi Abd al-Hamid Muhammad Ghoneim, was born on February 8, 1951 in Alexandria Governorate, and one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.

He was deported from Bahrain in 2008 because of his position on Kuwait in the Iraq war, and he traveled to several countries, including England, from which he was expelled and prevented from entering again on charges of incitement to terrorism.

He was detained for several years in Egyptian prisons, as well as in Canada, America, Switzerland, South Africa and Yemen.

In 2019, the Tunisian authorities decided to prevent Wajdi Ghoneim from entering the country, after he insulted and attacked the late President Beji Caid Essebsi.

Read also