Together for Justice strongly condemns the detention of Egyptian citizen Mariam Mohamed Abdel Basset, 31, inside the Military Medical City Hospital in Muscat only hours after she gave birth, and warns that any attempt to deport her to Egypt would amount to a grave violation of international law and a shameful act of complicity in Egypt’s campaign of transnational repression.
Mariam, who has legally resided in Oman since 2021 with her husband and children, was reportedly registered as a “prisoner” inside a medical facility immediately after childbirth, while her newborn baby remains with her. This shocking act cannot be justified as a routine security measure or administrative procedure. It is a brutal violation of human dignity and a dangerous sign that the Omani authorities are allowing their territory and institutions to be used in service of Egypt’s repressive machinery.
Together for Justice asks plainly: what has happened to Oman? How can a state long associated with restraint, mediation, and regional wisdom allow a woman who has just emerged from the operating room to be treated as a dangerous criminal? How can a newborn baby begin life under detention because the Egyptian regime has decided to extend its punishment from a man to his wife and children? And why is Oman choosing to normalise security cooperation with a dictatorship that has repeatedly misused INTERPOL mechanisms, anti-terrorism accusations, and international legal channels to pursue opponents and their families abroad?
Mariam’s case is inseparable from the fate of her husband, Ahmed Moussa, who was arrested in Oman on 26 March 2026 and forcibly deported to Egypt on 9 April 2026, reportedly on the basis of a verbal INTERPOL-related notice. He was not granted clear legal guarantees, his family was not provided with official documentation, and since his deportation all contact with him has been severed. He is now considered forcibly disappeared.
Instead of reviewing the grave consequences of Ahmed Moussa’s deportation, the same pressure was extended to his wife. On 15 April 2026, Mariam was prevented from leaving Oman at Muscat International Airport and was verbally informed that her name had also been placed on INTERPOL lists, without being shown any written document or legal basis. She was later subjected to two interrogations without the presence of a lawyer and was told that she could be deported to Egypt if she attempted to leave the country. Weeks later, she was detained immediately after giving birth.
Together for Justice stresses that Mariam has not committed any crime in Oman. She lived legally in the country for years without any record of criminal conduct or legal violation. The allegations reportedly raised against her in Egypt, including “leading a terrorist organisation”, “spreading false news”, “unlawful assembly”, and “inciting civil disobedience”, are precisely the kind of broad, politically weaponised charges that the Egyptian authorities have routinely used against journalists, lawyers, peaceful activists, dissidents, and relatives of perceived opponents.
Mariam is not an armed suspect, not a security threat, and not a fugitive from a genuine criminal process. She is a young mother who has just given birth. Her only apparent “crime” is being the wife of a man whom the Egyptian authorities classify as an opponent. What is happening to her is therefore not legitimate law enforcement. It is collective punishment.
The organisation warns that deporting Mariam to Egypt would expose her to a real risk of forced disappearance, torture, arbitrary detention, unfair trial, and irreparable harm. Egypt’s record of detention, abuse, and politically motivated prosecutions is too well known for any state to pretend ignorance. Oman cannot hide behind INTERPOL, verbal notices, or claims of procedural cooperation. The principle of non-refoulement is clear: no person may be returned to a country where they face a real risk of torture, persecution, disappearance, or serious human rights violations.
This case now places Oman before a serious moral and legal test. The question is no longer only about Mariam. It is about whether Oman will preserve its reputation as a state of wisdom, balance, and humanity, or whether it will allow itself to be dragged into the Egyptian regime’s campaign of revenge against families. Arab values, legal principles, and basic human decency all reject the handing over of a postpartum mother and her newborn child to a security system that has already disappeared her husband.
Together for Justice holds the Omani authorities fully responsible for the life, safety, physical integrity, and psychological wellbeing of Mariam Mohamed Abdel Basset, her newborn baby, and her two minor children. The organisation also holds Oman responsible for any measure that leads to her deportation, extradition, forced return, continued detention, or restriction of movement on the basis of an opaque Egyptian request or an unclear INTERPOL-related communication.
Together for Justice calls on the Omani authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Mariam Mohamed Abdel Basset, lift all restrictions imposed on her freedom of movement, allow her to leave Oman for a safe destination of her choosing, and guarantee that she will not be deported or handed over to Egypt under any circumstances. The organisation also calls on Oman to disclose the legal basis for her detention, grant her full access to legal representation and family contact, and open an urgent review into the deportation of her husband Ahmed Moussa and the subsequent disappearance that followed.
Together for Justice further calls on INTERPOL to urgently review any data, notice, diffusion, alert, or communication concerning Mariam Mohamed Abdel Basset or Ahmed Moussa, and to ensure that its systems are not being used to facilitate political persecution, collective punishment, or forced return to a country where victims face grave human rights risks.
The case of Mariam Mohamed Abdel Basset is not an isolated incident. It is a warning sign of how authoritarian regimes export repression beyond their borders and turn international cooperation tools into weapons against families. Oman must not become a transit point for such abuse. It must not allow a hospital bed to become a prison cell, or a newborn child to become collateral damage in Egypt’s pursuit of political revenge.
The time for silence is over. Mariam must be released immediately. Her deportation must be halted. Any delay may lead to consequences that cannot be justified, reversed, or forgiven.