Egypt deports 20 French suspected Islamists

Egypt has expelled about 20 suspected French Islamists over the past month, an Egyptian security official told AFP Saturday.

"About 20 French Muslims detained in the investigation into the Cairo attack in February that cost the life of a French girl have been expelled, little by little," the official said, declining to be named.

He said that no charges were filed against the French nationals but they were considered religious extremists and undesirable in Egypt.

A French consular official told AFP "a certain number of French nationals were detained along with other foreigners" after the attack and "asked to leave Egypt at their own expense and without any legal case" against them.

The identities of the 20 French nationals were not released.

It is unknown whether French national Romuald Durand, who was arrested on 21 April and has been held incommunicado since then, was among those deported. Duran, who has settled in Egypt since 2006, is believed to be in the custody of State Security Investigations (SSI) services.

Detainees held by the SSI are at risk of torture, especially when they are held incommunicado and at undisclosed locations

A French teenager was killed on Feb. 22 in a bomb attack in Cairo's famed Khan al-Khalili bazaar, in the first deadly violence against Westerners in Egypt since 2006.