10 Egyptian Nubians jailed by Saudi Arabia received no legal support by Egyptian government: source

A total of 10 Nubian Egyptians sentenced earlier last week to up to 18 years in prison by a Saudi court over terrorism-related charges had never received any form of legal representation or support by the Egyptian government during what rights groups described as an "unfair trial" and "a total mockery of justice."

"They were denied the right to hire a lawyer. The only lawyers who represented them were commissioned by the court. No Egyptian attorney attended the trial sessions held by the Saudi Specialised Criminal Court," a relative of one of the convicts told The New Arab on condition of anonymity.  

The 10 men were first arrested in 2019 when a Nubian cultural and social society in the Saudi capital Riyadh planned to hold an event to commemorate the 6 October war that highlights the role Nubians and the Nubian language played in the fight against Israel.

The commemoration never took place.

They were released without charges in December 2019 and then re-arrested the following July. Saudi authorities have denied the men regular contact with their families, according to Amnesty International.

"We communicated with the Egyptian embassy, MPs, the then-Minister of Emigration and Egyptian Expatriate Affairs Nabila Makram and filed a complaint to the cabinet but in vain. It is quite frustrating…it is as if Nubians are treated as second-class citizens," the relative added.

The case has not received attention from local media outlets, except for a few agencies that are blocked in Egypt, such as Mada Masr and Darb.

"It is a shame that the Egyptian media sympathised with Makram's son, accused of alleged double murder in the US and ignored the Nubians' case this way," the relative remarked. 

Similar commemorations and events involving Nubians, with the presence of Egyptian diplomats in Saudi Arabia and with the knowledge of the embassy, were held in previous years without incident.

According to the source, the Nubian society in question is registered at the embassy and all its activities are legitimate and known to the Egyptian diplomats and employees there beforehand.

The verdicts can be appealed two times before higher Saudi courts.

Amnesty International claimed in a recent statement that Saudi security officials criticised the Nubian men "for failing to include a photo of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in the event's announcement poster."

Sisi is known for having a solid relationship with the Saudi monarchy and crown prince Mohamed Bin Salman, who is the de-facto leader of the country.

Egyptian Nubians played a crucial role during the 197os wars between Egypt and Israel.

At the time, Israel occupied the Sinai Peninsula, late Nubian non-commissioned officer and code inventor Ahmed Edris proposed to the late president Anwar Sadat that the Nubian language can be used as a code, especially since it has no written alphabet.  

Before Edris' innovation, the Egyptian Army had consistently faced problems with sharing intelligence.

Eventually, a total of 344 soldiers of Nubian origin, led by Edris, were deployed in the Sinai Peninsula and were trained as code talkers during the War of Attrition and subsequently at the October 6th War.

Even though they have a rich heritage and history that dates back to the Pharaonic times, Nubians have long been marginalised by subsequent regimes in modern time Egypt having their rights ignored.