France could move to deport Palestinian-Egyptian activist Ramy Shaath after a May 21 hearing before an advisory deportation committee, in a case he says is meant to punish his pro-Palestinian activism and silence criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza, according to AP.
The case turns Shaath, once freed from an Egyptian prison with French support, into a test of France’s treatment of pro-Palestinian campaigners at a time of heightened pressure over Gaza, free speech and public order.
Damia Taharraoui, Shaath’s lawyer, said the Nanterre prefecture notified the defense that it intended to start deportation proceedings and that after the May 21 committee appearance, authorities “may immediately issue a deportation order that can be enforced at any time.”
But Taharraoui said there is no obvious country to which France can send him. Shaath “cannot be deported to Egypt, because he no longer holds Egyptian nationality, nor to Palestine, because the country is at war,” the lawyer told AFP.
The prefecture’s notice, seen by AFP, cited Shaath’s links to figures in the Palestinian cause in France and groups including Urgence Palestine, which he helped found after the Gaza war began. It also cited “repeated controversial actions and remarks,” including at a November 2023 protest in Paris. An investigation opened over alleged “defending terrorism” was closed in October 2024.
Shaath, 54, said in a May 14 video statement that French authorities had opened proceedings to expel him after previously making it difficult to renew his residency papers, despite his family ties in France. He also said his bank account had been closed without warning and his health insurance card suspended, affecting his ability to work, travel and receive care.
Shaath is Egyptian and Palestinian by birth and previously coordinated the Egyptian chapter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel. In a 2022 AP interview after his release from an Egyptian jail, he described his activism as “civil, nonviolent action against injustice, against inhumane treatment and against occupation as well as dictatorship,” according to Arab News.
His case has a long human rights history. Shaath was arrested in Egypt in 2019 and released in January 2022 after more than two and a half years in detention. The Open Society Justice Initiative, which represents him and his wife, says he was held for more than 900 days without proper legal protections and was coerced into renouncing his Egyptian citizenship before being expelled to France.
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Shaath’s release from Egyptian detention in 2022. Shaath is married to a French citizen and has a French-Palestinian daughter.
