A man whose wife is being held by Egyptian authorities has urged Andy Burnham, the Prime Minister, to intervene on her behalf and press for her freedom.
Two months ago, Eman el-Shazly — a Birmingham resident from the Handsworth Wood area — was detained at her mother's home in Cairo. The reported grounds for her detention centre on her sister's activities as an online activist.
Zeesharn Moustapha, her husband, told reporters the family felt powerless in the situation, and described a direct phone call from Burnham to Egyptian authorities as the one avenue they could identify to bring the detention to an end. The Egyptian consulate in London received a request for comment from a broadcast news outlet.
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office confirmed that liaison with Egyptian authorities was under way.
Moustapha told journalists he had not heard from his wife directly, though her mother had relayed that her health had deteriorated owing to inadequate food and medical supplies. He also described the detention facility as holding roughly 30 people per cell, each sharing a single toilet and one shower.
In a statement to a news outlet, he explained that his wife had travelled to Egypt to care for her mother, who was elderly and unwell, and that the older woman had been making 18-hour round trips to deliver food to el-Shazly's two brothers, who were also held in detention.
The 46-year-old told reporters that his wife's arrest appeared linked to videos his sister-in-law had posted on social media from the United Kingdom — material he described as directed at the Egyptian government. He questioned how anyone producing such content abroad, knowing it was drawing consequences for family members at home, could reconcile that with their own conscience.
In a broadcast interview, el-Shazly's sister conveyed that the detention of their family members had left her with a sense of regret. She argued the approach amounted to a deliberate method authorities had deployed to suppress dissenting voices, and said her decision to continue uploading the videos stemmed from a personal conviction that taking a public position on the matter was something she was obligated to do.
Moustapha characterised the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's involvement as ineffective, noting that no telephone contact or status updates had come through from the department. He conveyed that family members held the view that the government had taken insufficient action toward securing the release of his wife, a British passport holder of two decades.
Moustapha, a father of four, told reporters his wife had no case against her, that she was being held without justification, and that the detention amounted to collective punishment. He added that their children were in considerable distress, struggling without their mother, and that the family had no clear path forward.
The FCDO indicated through a spokesperson that it was providing assistance to the relatives of a British citizen held in Egypt, and that dialogue with the Egyptian authorities was ongoing.
