CAIRO: The deportation of a number of Egyptians from Kuwait will not affect relations between the two countries, the Kuwaiti ambassador told Daily News Egypt, adding that all deportees will receive their financial rights in full. "We abide by international conventions, not individual ones. The Egyptians are our brothers, so of course all their rights are protected, Ambassador Rashid Al-Hamad told Daily News Egypt in a telephone interview. The deported men had met to support Mohamed ElBaradei, former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and possible candidate for the presidential elections, who is calling for constitutional and political reform in Egypt. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW) a group of 30 people met at a restaurant in Kuwait in April. An attendee of the meeting told HRW that state security officers appeared and seized between 15 and 20 of those present at the meeting. While some of the detainees were freed on Saturday April 10, 21 were deported back to Egypt. Another group of four was deported on Monday. Al-Hamad denied there being any co-ordination between Security Services in his country and its counterpart in Egypt in this incident. "The Egyptians, who have been deported, violated Kuwaiti laws. We have a law that entails obtaining a clearance from Security Services before holding any general meeting, the ambassador said. "It s a law that is implemented on everyone including Kuwaiti citizens, and it has been implemented on our citizens before. "Kuwait respects and values all Egyptians. We have around 450,000 Egyptians from different walks of life who enjoy a safe livelihood, he added. Asked about when Cairo was notified about the arrests and deportations, he said, "I don t know when Egyptian authorities were notified; this notification takes place from Kuwait. The Kuwaiti embassy here didn t make any calls to Egyptian authorities about the issue. Kuwait is entitled to implement its laws without coordinating with any other country. Al-Hamad said that he was scheduled to meet with a delegation from the National Coalition for Change, headed by ElBaradei, at 1pm on Sunday, but the delegation didn t show up. He added that the Egyptian Security Service s siege around the embassy - present for a protest by Egyptian women activists against the deportations - wasn t an excuse for them not to attend. Our meeting was scheduled at 1 pm, and we didn t receive any apology from them or a phone call, he said. The presence of Egyptian Security Services outside the embassy headquarters is an Egyptian matter, but inside the embassy I was doing my work as usual like any other day. Regarding the effect the crisis had on him in Cairo and whether there was any change in security procedures during this period, the Kuwaiti ambassador said, I go about my life and work as usual, like before. The long relation between the Egyptian and Kuwaiti brothers can t be affected by this incident.
