The family of a British-Egyptian woman detained in Cairo is urging the UK government to intervene, saying her arrest is linked to her sister's online activism against the Egyptian government.
Eman el-Shazly, 45, from Handsworth Wood in Birmingham, was taken from her mother's house in Cairo in the early hours of 17 August, according to her husband, Zeesharn Moustapha. He told the BBC that Egyptian security forces had "ram-raided" the property 24 hours earlier and told her: "You need to tell your sister to stop." The Guardian reports the arrest date as 16 August.
Her sister Mona runs a UK-based YouTube channel with 130,000 subscribers, which her lawyers say is critical of the Egyptian government. The family alleges that Eman, who has never been involved in politics, was detained to pressure Mona into ending her activism. Arfan Rashid, the lawyer acting for Eman's husband, said: "There is ample evidence that Eman has been arrested to silence Mona."
The UK Foreign Office has confirmed to Eman's husband that she is being held in the Ramadan rehabilitation centre, and her case has been given the same file number as that of her two brothers, Hassan and Eid. The brothers spent three years in jail and were rearrested in May, according to The Guardian. They were previously held in pre-trial detention facing charges of "promoting the ideas of a terrorist organisation on social media, as well as broadcasting false news harmful to state security."
Moustapha said his wife had travelled to Egypt two months ago to look after her elderly, ill mother, who had been making 18-hour round trips to take food to the brothers in detention because, he claimed, Egyptian detention centres did not feed those held. He described the family as "traumatised" and the children as "heartbroken," and said the UK government needed to act "as quickly as possible."
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office said: "We are supporting the family of a British national detained in Egypt, and are in contact with the authorities." The UK's Foreign Office representation in Cairo has asked for access to see Eman but has not yet received a positive response, according to The Guardian.
The Egyptian consulate in London has not responded to a BBC request for comment.
The family has also said that three of Eman's other siblings have been detained, including a sister taken after Eman's arrest. On X, Mona has claimed that as many as five members of her family have been detained or harassed by Egyptian authorities.
The government of President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi has faced allegations that it frequently arrests relatives of political critics to put indirect pressure on dissidents, according to The Guardian. The Egyptian authorities have not publicly commented on Eman's case.
Alistair Burt, the UK's first envoy for complex consular cases, has been asked to take up the matter. Burt has already met Gurpreet Singh Johal, the brother of Jagtar Singh Johal, who has been detained by Indian authorities for nearly nine years without trial, The Guardian reports.