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Activists: Son of Chechen Rebel Leader Disappears


Russian human rights activists say the son of a Chechen rebel leader is missing after being deported last week from Egypt to Moscow.

Maskhud Abdullaev, the son of Chechen separatist Supyan Abdullaev was deported from Cairo Friday, along with a fellow student, Ahmed Azimov. But a welcoming party in Moscow said Maskhud never emerged from the airport's arrival area Saturday.

Activists say they fear he may have been detained by authorities at the airport, in a move to put pressure on his father.

Russia has not commented publicly on Maskhud Abdullaev's whereabouts.

Amnesty International warned last week that the son was at heightened risk of torture in Russia because of his father's fugitive status.

Amnesty linked the Egyptian deportations to a police raid last month at Cairo's Al-Azhar university.

Egypt carried out the raid as part of a probe into a bombing that killed a French teenager earlier this year in a Cairo tourist market.

Dozens of detainees, mainly from the southern Russian republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan, were arrested May 27 on suspicion of links to an al-Qaida cell blamed for the February bombing.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.


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