LONDON (AP) – The Egyptians who took to the streets on January 25, 2011 knew what they were doing. They knew they were at risk of arrest and worse. But as their numbers increased in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square, they tasted success.
The police withdrew and within days former President Hosni Mubarak agreed to resign.
But events did not turn out as many of the protesters had expected. A decade later, an estimated thousands have fled abroad to escape the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, which is considered even more oppressive. The significant loss of academics, artists, journalists and other intellectuals, along with a climate of fear, has hampered any political opposition.
Dr. Mohamed Aboelgheit was one of the prisoners in the southern city of Assiut in 2011 after joining calls for insurgency against police brutality and Mubarak. He spent part of the rebellion in a tight cell.
Released amid the chaos, he soaked up the atmosphere of political freedom in the Arab world’s most populous country – protested, worked as a journalist, and joined a campaign for a moderate presidential candidate. But it didn’t take long.
Interim military rulers followed Mubarak. In 2012, Mohamed Morsi, a member of Egypt’s most powerful Islamic group, the Muslim Brotherhood, was elected the first civilian president in the country’s history. But his tenure turned out to be divisive. Amid massive protests, the military – led by then Defense Minister el-Sissi – removed Morsi in 2013, dissolved parliament and eventually banned the Brotherhood as a “terrorist group”. A crackdown on dissent ensued, and el-Sissi won two terms in elections criticized by human rights organizations as undemocratic.
“I gradually started to feel more fear and threats,” said Aboelgheit. Friends were jailed, his government-critical writings drew attention, and “I wouldn’t wait for it to happen to me,” he added.
After el-Sissi came to power, Abulgheit left for London, where he published investigative reports on other parts of the Arab world.
In his former home in Egypt, national security agents asked for him. When Abulgheit’s wife last returned to visit relatives, she was summoned to be questioned about his activities. The message was clear.
No one knows exactly how many Egyptians such as Abulgheit have fled political persecution.
World Bank data shows that the number of emigrants from Egypt has increased since 2011. In 2017, a total of 3,444,832 left – almost 60,000 more than in 2013, the years for which figures are available. But it is impossible to distinguish economic migrants from political exiles.
They moved to Berlin, Paris and London. Egyptians have also settled in Turkey, Qatar, Sudan and even Asian countries such as Malaysia and South Korea.
Human Rights Watch estimated in 2019 that there were 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt. The Committee for the Protection of Journalists places Egypt in third place, after China and Turkey, in terms of detention of journalists.
El-Sissi claims Egypt has no political prisoners. The arrest of a journalist or a rights worker makes news about every month. Many people have been imprisoned on charges of terrorism, breaking bans on protests, or spreading false news. Others remain in custody indefinitely.
El-Sissi maintains that Egypt is holding back Islamic extremism so that it does not fall into chaos like its neighbors.
“Sissi not only wants to abolish the rights of the opposition and avoid a critical vote. Sissi doesn’t really believe, not only in the opposition, but he doesn’t believe in politics,” said Khaled Fahmy, an Egyptian professor of modern history of the Middle East from Cambridge University
Fahmy believes this is the worst period in Egypt’s modern history for personal rights.
“It’s a lot more serious, it’s a lot deeper and a lot darker, which is what Sissi has in mind,” he said.
Those abroad who could challenge el-Sissi have chosen not to return.
Taqadum al-Khatib, an academic who also worked in the burgeoning political scene after 2011, was researching Egypt’s former Jewish community in Germany when he discovered that returning to his homeland was no longer an option.
The Egyptian cultural attaché in Berlin called al-Khatib to a meeting and an official questioned him about his articles, social media posts and research. He was asked to hand over his passport, but refused. Shortly afterwards, he was fired from an Egyptian university. He is lucky to be able to work on his PhD in Germany, but misses the hustle and bustle of Cairo.
“It is a very difficult situation. I couldn’t go back to my house, ”said al-Khatib.
Fahmy said he has seen outspoken expats revoke their Egyptian citizenship.
A government press officer did not respond to a request for comment on attacking and intimidating Egyptians – abroad or at home – for their work as journalists, activists or academics, or for expressing political views.
Journalist Asma Khatib, 29, recalls the heady days of 2011 when young people thought they could bring about change.
As a reporter for a news agency that is pro-Muslim Brotherhood, Khatib reported on Morsi’s brief presidency amid criticism that the group used violence against opponents and sought to monopolize power to make Egypt an Islamic state. After Morsi’s deposition, his supporters held sit-ins before his relocation in a Cairo square. A month later, the new military leaders forcibly disposed of them and more than 600 people were killed.
Khatib documented the violence. Soon colleagues were arrested and she fled Egypt – first to Malaysia, then to Indonesia and Turkey.
She was tried in absentia for espionage in 2015, found guilty and sentenced to death. Now she and her husband Ahmed Saad, also a journalist, and their two children are seeking asylum in South Korea.
They expect never to come back, but also realize that they are lucky to be free. The day the verdict was announced, the journalist remembers saying to herself, “You have no land.”
“I know there are many others like me. I am no different from those who are in prison, ”she said.
The exiles have had ample time to reflect on where Egypt’s rebellion failed. The broad alliance of protesters – from Islamists to secular activists – broke without a common enemy like Mubarak, and the most extreme voices became the loudest. The role of religion in society remained largely unanswered, and liberal secular initiatives never gained traction. No one could explain how many people would embrace figures from the former regime, especially in a crisis.
Most Egyptians abroad have not been politically active for fear of family and friends at home. But some have continued on the path begun on January 25, 2011.
Tamim Heikal, who worked in the corporate world when the protests broke out, doubted the government would ever be able to reform. But he soon became communications manager for an emerging political party. He later saw others being locked up, and knew it was his turn when he received an invitation from intelligence officers in 2017 to “ come and have a coffee. ”
He booked a ticket to Paris and did not return.
Now, at the age of 42, he wants to educate himself and others for when a popular movement resurfaces in Egypt. He makes ends meet by editing, translating, and consulting for rights groups, and trying to network between the diaspora.
“It’s as if I was infected with a virus after the revolution,” he said. ‘I don’t know how to get back. I cannot relax until a change occurs. “
Others try to cope in foreign lands. Asma Khatib and her husband are unsure what to say to their young children when they ask where they are from.
Abouelgheit, the doctor turned journalist, is concerned that his son will not speak Arabic after so much time in the UK.
He hopes to go home one day, but in the meantime, he is considering returning to the medical profession.