Eman el-Shazly, a 45-year-old mother of four from Handsworth Wood, Birmingham, has been detained by Egyptian authorities in Cairo, allegedly because of her sister's political activism. She was taken from her elderly mother's home in Cairo in the early hours of August 17. Egyptian authorities have confirmed to the Foreign Office that she is being held at the 10th Ramadan Rehabilitation Centre.
Family's History of Detention
El-Shazly's two brothers were detained on May 19, having previously spent two years and nine months in pre-trial detention from August 2020 before being released without receiving a sentence or conviction. One of El-Shazly's sisters was also detained shortly after her arrest.
Zeesharn Moustapha, El-Shazly's husband, said the family believes she was detained as a way of intimidating them and putting pressure on her sister, Mona el-Shazly, to stop criticising President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's government. Mona el-Shazly, who is based in Birmingham, has a YouTube channel with more than 130,000 subscribers and is also active on X.
Alleged Intimidation Tactics
Moustapha told the BBC that, the day before his wife was detained, Egyptian security forces "ram-raided" the family home in Cairo and told her: "You need to tell your sister to stop." He claimed the forces "smashed the place up, even bending forks and knives". About 24 hours later, Moustapha said el-Shazly called him in distress, screaming: "They're coming to get me."
"The family's a bit traumatised. [The children] are heartbroken," he said. "We really need the UK government to get their fingers out as quickly as possible." Speaking about the 10th Ramadan Rehabilitation Centre, Moustapha described it as a "notorious prison" and claimed inmates can be held in groups of around 30, sleeping on concrete floors with just one toilet and shower.
Legal and Political Response
Her lawyer, Arfan Rashid of Rashid Law, told the BBC that the allegations against el-Shazly were "trumped up" and "an attempt by Egyptian authorities to silence a political activist in the UK - her sister". "In my opinion, there is ample and compelling evidence this is just punishment by proxy," he said. "There is a history of authorities targeting these families who have people in their family who are activists."
The arrests have left 12 children without their parents. Mona el-Shazly, who has lived in the UK for 18 years, told The Guardian: "It is a horrible situation, but the Egyptian government will not stop if I appear weak. The government is close to collapsing." There has been no contact with el-Shazly since her detention.
Moustapha criticised the UK government for what he described as "lacklustre at best" involvement in the case. He said most of the support he had received had come from Rashid Law and Ayoub Khan, the MP for Birmingham Perry Barr. He hopes the case will be escalated to Alistair Burt, the UK's first-ever envoy for complex consular cases. The Mirror has contacted the Foreign Office for comment.
