Palestinian politician's son arrested in Egypt for anti-Israel BDS activism

A prominent Palestinian politician has said his son has been under arrest in Egypt for over a month because of his acitivism for the boycott movement against Israel, known as BDS.

Nabil Shaath told The New Arab on Thursday that Palestinian spy chief Majed Faraj travelled to Cairo to attempt to secure his son Ramy's release.

The 48-year-old dual Egyptian-Palestinian national, who is the Egypt coordinator of BDS movement, was arrested in his Cairo home on July 5.

"When Faraj met with Egyptian officials to discuss Ramy they told him: 'He's making us trouble, BDS is making us trouble, it'll just be a few days and we'll let him go," Shaath said.

"That happened two weeks after the arrest. Now that it's been over two weeks I can no longer remain silent,"

Egyptian authorities have charged Ramy with aiding a "terrorist group" connected to the recent arrest of secular activists accused of collaborating with wanted Muslim Brotherhood members in Turkey on plotting violence and riots.

Shaath denied the charges against his son and said the arrest was over his criticsm of Egypt's participation in Washington's controversial Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.

Cairo sent a mid-level official to a June conference in Bahrain where US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner launched the initiative.

The former Palestinian interim prime minister and Oslo peace process negotiator is currently an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Ramy also entered politics and served as an advisor to Palestinian Liberation Organisation head Yasser Arafat.

After arresting Ramy, security forces deported his wife Celine Lebrun-Shaath, a French national, to Paris.

Egyptian relations with Israel have greatly improved under the regime of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Israel has taken recent steps to counter BDS, including banning foreigners who support the movement.

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