Egypt Calls for Release of Egyptian Arrested in the Netherlands

Egypt’s foreign minister, Badr Abdelatty, spoke by phone with his Dutch counterpart, Dick Berendsen, on Monday, 13 October, to press for the release of an Egyptian citizen detained in the Netherlands and to demand stronger protection for Egypt’s embassy in The Hague, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said.

Abdelatty asked the Dutch authorities to explain why the man had been arrested and to free him quickly, according to the ministry’s account of the call. Egyptian news outlets identified the man as Ahmed Nasser, the deputy head of the Union of Egyptian Youth Abroad, and said he was taken into custody on Sunday.  

According to Egypt Today, Nasser was arrested allegedly for threatening to assault Anas Habib, another Egyptian national who had recently filmed himself outside the Egyptian Embassy in the Netherlands insulting embassy staff members as Dutch officers stood by. The arrest drew demonstrators to the Dutch Embassy in Cairo on Monday, where they called for answers about his detention and for his release.

On the embassy’s security, Abdelatty cited the Netherlands’ obligations under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which requires host countries to protect foreign missions, and urged the Dutch government to honor them fully. He invoked the principle of reciprocity, noting that Egypt protects all diplomatic missions on its own soil, the ministry said.

Berendsen agreed that the issue was important, the ministry said. There was no immediate account of the call from the Dutch side, and it was unclear on what grounds Nasser had been arrested.

Tarek Radwan, who chairs the human rights committee in Egypt’s House of Representatives, urged Dutch authorities to disclose the legal basis for Nasser’s detention, clarify his legal status, and ensure he could contact his family and access a lawyer.

Radwan said the case raised questions about whether the Netherlands applied its commitments to free expression, peaceful assembly and fair trials consistently, adding that “human rights are indivisible” and should not be subject to double standards.

Meanwhile, Berendsen and Abdelatty agreed to continue consultations to resolve the outstanding issues while maintaining friendly relations between their countries.