On Sunday, August 1, 2021, the Forum for Development and Human Rights Dialogue issued a press release announcing that it is closely monitoring the detention and trial of the Egyptian citizen Khaled Awad in the United States of America who is facing charges of attacking an American citizen.
The 24-year-old Egyptian, is a chemical engineering student at University of South Florida in the United States, on July 1, 2021 he was charged with assaulting a Jewish rabbi as well as being charged with being anti-Semitic.
The police received a report at 1:20 p.m. on July 1, 2021 that there was a man who was in possession of a firearm, and that a truck was spotted parked on the road. In response to the call, police officers combed the area and arrested Khalid and took him to the police station.
The preliminary investigations stated that the rabbi in question is a married father of 12 children moved recently from Israel to Boston to serve the Russian-speaking Jewish community located there. The rabbi stated that the incident occurred on the same day that he was attending a party at school, as he went out of the school to speak on his phone, where he was surprised by an Egyptian man holding a weapon and ordering him to open the door of his car and ride in it quietly. He attempted to escape but Khaled pursued him to the park where the rabbi was stabbed eight times.
According to the reports that was documented by “the Egyptians abroad unit” in The Forum for Development and Human Rights Dialogue, the Young Egyptian does not have a criminal record, but was earlier charged with battery and theft in Florida, and was sent to a mental institution there “Grace Point” for treatment.
Dr. Iman Saeed Abdel Beki Suleiman, Khaled’s mother said she failed to communicate with any official authority in America.
Also, she mentioned in an interview with the person responsible for the Egyptians abroad proggramme at The Forum for Development and Human Rights Dialogue: she has reached out to the American Embassy in Egypt to obtain a visa to travel where she was rejected because of the covid-19 pandemic. She stressed that all she seeks transparency and a fair trial guaranteeing the rights of her son Khaled.
The Forum for Development and Human Rights Dialogue Expresses its appreciation to the judicial institutions and the authorities in the United States, and demands transparency in the investigations and guarantee his right to an attorney and a fair trial in order to reveal the truth.
