Egyptian activists accuse the government of using the fight against terrorism as cover to lock up political opponents and human rights workers. Egyptian authorities deny wrongdoing, but overflowing prisons and harsh treatment have led critics to compare conditions to those that led to the Arab Spring in 2011.
Egypt's Deja Vu
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On the left, Nour Khalil says, “Since I came out of jail it has been not easy to socialize. I have become more careful when I leave my home. I always tell someone I know where I’m going in case something happens. Forced disappearance is very scary. Officially you don’t exist.” On the right, Khalil views an Amnesty International report about his family’s arrest. “One of the most effective ways to fight forced disappearance is to keep talking about it,” he says on August 28, 2017. (H. Elrasam/VOA)
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Islam Khalil, Nour’s brother, was held without charges for 122 days. “The officers tied cloths over our eyes and called us by number instead of by name.” While in jail, Islam Khalil took names and other details of other prisoners who said they were arrested and their families never informed. As he left, one prisoner touched him in a gesture Islam Khalil understood to mean, “Don’t forget us.” (H.Elrasam/VOA)
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Bakr Atef, left, looks at a picture of his father and brother with an official arrest document in the background. “I told prosecutors that they stole money from our house and kidnapped my father and my brother. Police officials showed us a document that accuses them of taking part in Islamic State activities in August 2015, long after they were detained." Atef, right, is in his father’s store. “I’m now responsible here. The store is our only source of income,” Cairo, Aug. 29, 2017. (H. Elrasam/VOA)
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Bakr Atef, a university student, says his father and his brother were arrested in July, 2015. Both are still in jail on charges of a crime that took place in August of 2015, a month after the men were already in custody. Both father and son had, however, participated in anti-government protests the previous year. Atef says: “More than a hundred special soldiers, heavily armed, masked and dressed in camouflage uniforms, stormed our house. They took about 280,000 Egyptian pounds from the house and brought me, my father and six of my brothers downstairs and covered our eyes and tied our hands behind our backs. They pointed a gun at each of us and asked who among us was the most religious. My brother Yahia said he prayed at the mosque and they arrested him. I yelled, ‘You can’t arrest him. We have cameras and recording devices!’ They confiscated the equipment before they took my brother away.” Aug. 29, 2017. (H. Elrasam/VOA)