Families must pay big price for exiled relatives’ rebukes
CAIRO — When a popular Egyptian blogger shared gruesome video of a military officer severing the finger of an unidentified body and setting the body on fire, it was some of the most shocking footage to emerge from Sinai, where Egypt’s military has been battling Islamist militants in a hidden war.
As an exiled dissident, Abdullah elSherif could afford to be bold enough to broadcast the video in March. But days later, security agents burst into the homes of his relatives in the seaside city of Alexandria and arrested his two brothers on terrorism charges.
Now elSherif is in Qatar, safely beyond the reach of Egypt’s security forces, while his brothers languish at a maximumsecurity prison outside Cairo.
The Egyptian government, which has stifled nearly all criticism at home, is now trying to silence critics abroad by jailing their family members in Egypt, human rights groups say. Since early last year, it has arrested the relatives of at least 15 dissidents in exile.
Security agents have broken down front doors, confiscated money and passports, forced parents to denounce their children on television, and detained fathers and brothers, several of whom have been charged with terrorism and imprisoned.
“It’s nothing less than collective punishment,” said Amr Magdi of Human Rights Watch, which since 2016 has documented raids on the families of 14 exiled dissidents. At least 20 relatives have been detained or prosecuted.
ElSherif, whose YouTube videos often amass 2 million to 3 million views, said Egyptian officials told him that if he stopped his critical broadcasts, his brothers would be released.
“I feel really bad,” he said. “I’ve lost my appetite. My mother and father call all the time, crying on the phone, asking me to quit. I don’t know what to do.”
The head of Egypt’s State Information Service did not respond to a request for comment.
Egypt’s rulers have long employed such tactics against the families of suspected drug traffickers and jihadists. But as President AbdelFattah elSissi has cranked up the repression in recent years, he has broadened his focus to target the families of exiled dissidents, journalists and cultural figures.
Inside Egypt, elSissi jailed opponents and largely subjugated the news media. His intelligence services have acquired stakes in the largest private TV networks, blocked over 500 websites and even censored the scripts of the highly popular TV serials that Egyptians are lapping up during the holy month of Ramadan.