Ambassador Pierre presents credentials in Egypt |28 February 2018
Ambassador David Pierre has presented his credentials to the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, H. E. Abdel Fattah el-SiSi.
According to a communiqué from the department of foreign affairs, during their bilateral, Ambassador Pierre discussed issues pertaining to the commendable level of cooperation shared between both Egypt and Seychelles and noted that "Seychelles values the strong ties that exist between our two countries and it is my wish to see our relationship consolidated and catapulted to an even higher level”. Ambassador Pierre extended the best wishes of President Danny Faure to President el-Sisi.
In addition the Seychelles ambassador also raised a pertaining issue to the conclusion of a visa waiver agreement and the elaboration of an accord which would see the return of three Seychellois citizens currently incarcerated in Al Qanater Prison in the suburbs of Cairo. Both were positively received.
The three Seychellois ‒ Ronny Norman Jean, Yvon John Vinda and Dean Dominic Loze ‒ who faced death row in Egypt after being found guilty of drug trafficking, had their sentence commuted to life imprisonment.
A statement issued by State House on Wednesday November 25, 2015, the Office of the President announced that, as a result of intensive diplomatic representations at the highest levels, the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Abel Fattah el-Sisi, decided to commute the death sentences of the three Seychellois nationals, currently being held in detention in Egypt for the capital crime of drug trafficking as prescribed by Egyptian law, to one of life sentence.
The statement added that President James Michel, had in his direct appeals to his Egyptian counterpart on several occasions, played a strong and proactive role in ensuring the Seychellois in Egypt are spared the death sentence.
Arrested on April 22, 2011 by Egyptian police aboard a boat near the Red Sea coastal town of Marsa Alam with three tonnes of cannabis on board, the three men were sentenced to death by execution on April 7, 2013.
Jean, Vinda and Loze, were together with the skipper and owner of the vessel, a British national identified as Charles Raymond Ferndale, who was also sentenced to death.
On October 15, 2014, the Egyptian Court of Cessation rejected their appeal and upheld the death penalty.
It was then that the Seychelles government engaged with the Egyptian authorities for quite a while to find a way for the death sentence to be commuted to a less severe punishment of life in jail.