Two weeks after pardoned Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy arrived back in Canada from a Cairo jail, Canadian resident Khaled Al-Qazzaz is still waiting to leave Egypt.

This week he and his Canadian wife Sarah Attia had an unexpected shock.

Released from captivity by the Egyptian authorities nine months ago without charge, he was told that the prosecutor general had issued a travel ban that will keep him in the country indefinitely.

“We had been told that there was no travel ban, because there was no case against Khaled,” said Attia in a phone interview Friday.

“But when we tried to leave the country on March 5, and again on April 16, we were prevented from going, without any explanation. Our lawyer told us there was no ban.”

On release from jail in January, Al-Qazzaz was given a green light by all the Egyptian ministries associated with his case.

An engineer, educator and University of Toronto graduate, Al-Qazzaz went to Cairo with Canadian-born Attia when she became principal of an international school. He was asked to become a foreign affairs advisor to ousted President Mohammed Morsi, whose party was linked with the Muslim Brotherhood.

After the July 2013 coup, security forces loyal to Morsi’s successor, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, swept up and jailed thousands of suspected Brotherhood members, journalists and protesters. Al-Qazzaz was imprisoned for 558 days in brutal conditions that left him with serious back and neck injuries requiring urgent surgery.

After two failed attempts to fly to Toronto — where he was booked into hospital — Al-Qazzaz filed a complaint with an administrative court, but the hearing was delayed twice. On Tuesday, he learned that the ministry of the interior had filed a back-dated document saying that he was under a travel ban.

Campaigners for his release submitted an urgent appeal to UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, asking him to call on Egypt to remove the ban and allow Al-Qazzaz to leave.

“The Canadian embassy people here have been very supportive,” said Attia. “They are following the case closely. I’m hoping Canada’s new prime minister, Justin Trudeau, will be able to put an end to this.”

They are now waiting for a new court date to strike down the ban, clarify why they were prevented from leaving — and why Al Qazzaz’s passport and the family’s money have been confiscated.

“We had hoped to have the children in school back in Toronto by now,” said Attia. “They’re confused and frightened. They worry every time Khaled goes out of the house for an hour or so.” The four children are aged 2 to 8.

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For now, the couple cannot work, money is tight, and the future is cloudy. Although in pain from his injuries, Al Qazzaz is completing his PhD with University of Toronto.

“We don’t feel safe here, and Khaled needs treatment,” Attia said. “When I saw that Mohamed Fahmy was home in Canada with his wife it gave me new hope. I was glad to see them so happy. But our lives are still in limbo.”

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