British-Egyptian Woman Detained in Egypt Over Sister’s Activism
A British-Egyptian woman has been detained in Egypt in a case her lawyers describe as politically motivated and intended to pressure her sister, a UK-based critic of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s government.
Eman el-Shazly, 45, a mother of four from Birmingham, was arrested on 16 August while visiting Egypt to care for her elderly mother. Her lawyer said there are strong grounds to believe her detention is linked to the political activism of her sister, Mona el-Shazly.
Mona runs a YouTube channel with around 130,000 subscribers and has criticised alleged corruption within Egypt’s security services and public institutions. Relatives reportedly urged her to stop her criticism and remove her videos.
Egypt’s Supreme State Security Prosecution ordered Eman held for 15 days pending investigation. She is reportedly being held at the 10th of Ramadan Rehabilitation Centre in the same case as her brothers, who had previously spent years in pretrial detention.
The case has renewed concerns over Egypt’s alleged use of relatives to pressure dissidents abroad. British officials have requested consular access to Eman, but it has not yet been granted.
