The Maat Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Studies expresses its full condemnation of the kidnapping of Dr. Ihab Al-Sharif, head of the Egyptian diplomatic mission to Iraq, calling on the Egyptian authorities to quickly intervene with the Iraqi government in order for his immediate release and revealing the identity of the kidnapped, and it also appeals to human rights organizations and Iraqi civil society institutions to cooperate With the Egyptian government in order to preserve the safety and good treatment of the Egyptian ambassador.

And unidentified armed men had kidnapped Dr. Ihab al-Sharif on Saturday evening 2/7/2005 near his home in the Mansour neighborhood in Baghdad. Some speculated that the reason for the kidnapping was due to the reluctance of news about the Sharif’s accreditation as ambassador to Iraq, raising the level of diplomatic representation between the two countries to the rank of ambassador, and turning the Egyptian Interests Section in Baghdad into an embassy . No party has yet claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, which is the first to affect an ambassador to Iraq since the outbreak of the kidnappings.

While the Maat Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Studies stresses the need for the immediate release of the Egyptian ambassador and other Egyptian detainees, and for the preservation of their lives and their good treatment, it calls on the Egyptian government to immediately and quickly intervene in the case by conducting its contacts with the official and religious authorities in Iraq with the aim of knowing the parties responsible for the kidnapping. And knowing what its demands are, or by sending an Egyptian delegation to clarify the situation and to clarify it, and to secure the safety of the kidnapped Egyptian diplomat charged with strengthening relations between the Egyptian and Iraqi peoples, and the Egyptian government should put strict restrictions on Egyptians traveling to Baghdad to save their lives.