The Egyptian Consul in Jeddah Ali Al-Ashri has said he is in touch with the Egyptian doctors Rauf al-Urabi and Shawki Abed Rabbo, who have been sentenced to prison and to be lashed in Saudi Arabia. In a phone call with Al-Masry Al-Youm, al-Ashri said: "We are in constant contact with Abed Rabbo and the lawyer of al-Urabi to follow up the recent developments in this regard."
He added that the last phone call the consulate received from Abed Rabbo was three days ago.
Al-Urabi's lawyer has recently submitted a request to the Saudi authorities to re-try the doctors. The Egyptian consulate has not received any reports to the effect that the Saudi authorities will lash or already lashed the two doctors. The Egyptian consulate has again submitted a request to the Saudi authorities to visit the doctors, al-Ashri said, adding: "We are waiting for the Saudi response to this request and the date of the visit." There is no problem in communication between doctors and their families in Egypt or the Egyptian consulate. With regard to rumors that there are many Egyptians in Jeddah Prison, al-Ashri said after the Greater Bairam, the Egyptian consulate in Jeddah managed to release 4080 Egyptians from among those who stayed in Saudi Arabia after the end of Umra (minor pilgrimage). The consulate has issued travel documents to about 2600 of them.
However, there are still 186 Egyptians in Saudi Arabia with expired visas, he said, calling on the Egyptians to respect the Saudi laws and regulations so that they would not be exposed to any problems in the future. He praised the Saudi authorities for cooperating with the Egyptian consulate in Jeddah to solve the problems.
