OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson says Mohamed Fahmy can only get a new Canadian passport once Egyptian authorities give him the green light to travel.
The Canadian journalist on trial in Egypt on widely denounced terror charges says he is crippled over Ottawa’s refusal to issue him a passport while he awaits the outcome of his case.
The 40-year-old’s passport was seized by Egyptian authorities when he was first arrested in December 2013, and has never been returned.
Fahmy says he got a letter from Canada’s Passport Program this week that suggest a new passport will only be issued when a court-imposed travel ban, which is part of his bail conditions, is lifted.
Nicholson says today that is indeed the case, but NDP critic Paul Dewar is criticizing that decision.
Dewar is denouncing Nicholson’s decision, saying Famhy needs the document to marry, rent an apartment and a car while awaiting trial in Egypt.