Family of detained British-Egyptian woman appeals to UK Prime Minister
The husband of Eman El-Shazly, a British-Egyptian woman held by Egyptian authorities since August, has appealed to British Prime Minister Andy Burnham to intervene directly with Cairo to secure her immediate release, as the UK government confirmed it remains in contact with Egyptian officials over her detention.
The British government reportedly stated that it is supporting El-Shazly’s family and liaising with Egyptian authorities regarding her case.
El-Shazly’s family has launched a public petition demanding her release. According to her husband, Zesharn Moustapha, the 45-year-old dual British-Egyptian national had traveled to Cairo to visit her mother before security forces raided the residence and arrested her on 17 August.
Zesharn said officers ransacked the home and caused extensive damage before taking his wife away. He added that all communication was severed immediately after she alerted him that security forces were taking her into custody.
Eman had returned to Egypt following the arrest of her brothers, Hassan and Eid, seeking to care for her ailing, elderly mother, according to relatives.
The family said she has now spent 40 days in detention without access to outside contact or verification of her medical condition. Authorities arrested her sister, Shaimaa, the following day.
All four siblings, Eman, Shaimaa, Hassan, and Eid, have been detained since last May “in an effort to exert pressure on British-Egyptian dissident Mona El-Shazly,” the Foundation for the Support of Law and Democracy said in a statement last month.
Mona El-Shazly regularly posts video commentary and statements across social media platforms criticizing the policies of the Egyptian government, the military establishment, and President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, while condemning the arrest and targeting of her relatives inside Egypt.
Irfan Rashid, the British legal counsel representing Moustapha, told The Independent that the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) informed the family on Sept. 15 of the formal allegations leveled against El-Shazly. Egyptian prosecutors accuse her of “joining a terrorist group and financing it, using social media accounts to disseminate false news, and inciting unauthorized protests and gatherings.”
El-Shazly denies all allegations, according to her legal representative. Rashid stated that her Egyptian defense attorney has received no evidence substantiating the state’s claims, adding that the family has compelling grounds to question whether her detention is tied directly to her sister Mona’s vocal opposition to the Egyptian government.
The materials published by El-Shazly’s family and their legal team do not, however, include independent documentation proving that her arrest was prompted solely by her sister’s political activism.
Zesharn said he and Eman share four children, including three boys between the ages of nine and 18, who have been forced to start the academic term without their mother.
The children have been deeply unsettled by her absence, he noted, pointing out that his son’s 10th birthday coincided with her detention and that the child remained distressed that his mother could not be there.
In its statement last month, the Foundation for the Support of Law and Democracy characterized the round-up of Mona El-Shazly’s siblings as an act of “transnational repression” and “punishment by proxy.”
In November, 19 Egyptian and international human rights organizations voiced mounting alarm over Cairo’s escalating use of “proxy punishment,” citing coordinated security raids, arbitrary arrests, and enforced disappearances designed to retaliate against the domestic families of dissidents and activists based abroad.
The joint rights statement documented the names of several overseas activists, journalists, and rights defenders whose relatives inside Egypt were detained by security agencies seeking to silence or punish them for their public dissent.
In February 2025, the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group issued its comprehensive assessment of Egypt’s human rights record, delivering 343 recommendations from 137 member states.
The review urged Cairo to halt enforced disappearances, eliminate detainee “rotation,” where prisoners face fresh, recycled charges to prevent release, free political prisoners, and protect press freedoms.
In response, Egyptian foreign minister Badr Abdelatty maintained that Cairo has intensified efforts over the preceding five years to implement 301 recommendations accepted during the previous cycle, claiming demonstrable progress across all human rights metrics.