To Save a Life
Trump proved the good a US president can do
AYA Hijazi learned three years ago that being an American citizen can get you thrown in jail on trumped-up charges in Egypt — a country that claims to be a staunch American ally and accepts billions of dollars in US aid.
Then she learned that being an American unjustly imprisoned abroad won’t necessarily get you any help or attention from the world’s most powerful government, even if it has plenty of leverage. The State Department might just prefer to keep quiet rather than rock the boat with that supposed ally.
Finally, Hijazi discovered that when an American president does use his influence, he can have a quick and powerful effect — even when it is Donald Trump, who has loudly sworn off US advocacy on human rights. Within days of Trump’s intervention on her behalf with Egyptian ruler Abdel Fatah al-Sissi last month, Hijazi was flown out of Egypt on a US plane.
I met Hijazi and her husband, Mohamed Hassanein, last week to hear the story of how their attempt to do good in Cairo, and Hijazi’s American identity, did them harm — and then ultimately rescued them.
Theirs is a tale not only about what can happen to activist Americans in an increasingly hostile world, but also about the difference it makes whether their government chooses to ignore them or go to bat for them.
Hijazi said she believes her US citizenship is one reason she landed in an Egyptian prison after she and her husband founded a charity to help street children. Sissi’s regime regards civil-society groups backed by US money or activists as national-security threats.
But there were other reasons, too: They were young and politically moderate. Young people drove the 2011 revolution against the military-backed dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak and so are seen as a strategic threat by Sissi’s regime of restoration. And “moderates are dangerous people because they can win hearts,” Hijazi, now 30, said.
The irony is that this couple, who survived prison by writing and smuggling letters to each other, never saw themselves as particularly political. Hijazi. who graduated from George Mason University, met Hassanein, the son of a Cairo shoemaker, six months after the revolution. They were intoxicated by the seeming potential for change in the country but disillu-sioned by the polarization of its politics. So they decided, Hijazi said, to "start projects doing the work of politics — good governance —without getting into politics." First, they noticed the city had a garbage crisis, "so we got into gar-bage:' Then they turned to an even bigger need: the street chil-dren who thronged the center of the city. They rented an apart-ment for their Belady Foundation and set out to give some of the children homes. On May 1, 2014, the facility was attacked by a group of civilian thugs. Hijazi and Hassanein went to the local police station to file a complaint, only to find them-selves detained along with other Belady staff Seven criminal charges were brought against them, six of them carrying a life sentence. No evidence was ever offered to back up the charges instead, trial proceedings against the group were postponed repeatedly over two years. Hijazi was smeared on Egypt's state-run media as a sex criminal and US agent. Yet inside prison, her captors were puzzled: Why, they asked, did the US government do nothing to help her? For mom thn n two years, the State Department offered no public protest or even expressio of concern about her case. "I said either it was because was not important enough, or cause I was a dual citizen," Hij recalled. "I felt abandoned. It so sad to be forgotten and no cared about when America ca do so much:' When Trump was elected, Hi jazi's fellow prisoners taunt hen His support for Sissi and a parent lack of interest in huma rights were well-known. So, Hi jazi said, it was "a really pleasan surprise" when the new presiden intervened in her case as Siss came to Washington in earl April Even better, she said, was tha the result was not only her r lease, but also her acquittal alon with Hassanein and all the othe Belady staff After being flown t Washmgton, Hijazi met Trumpi the Oval Office. We actually didn't talk t much about Egypt," she said. "W talked about how he actually ha made a difference. He showe that meetings behind close doors can have an effect." Egypt, of course, is still feste ing, its prisons packed with many as 60,000 political detain ees, including as many as seve more Americans. Hijazi an Hassenein have drawn up a list o 50 "dire humanitarian cases," p ple they believe may die if th aren't freed. They hope their cas will set a precedent. If they responded to one;' Hi jazi said of Sissi's concession t Trump, they can respond more."