"Egypt's regime must overcome its paranoia"

Sanaa Seif is one of Egypt's most prominent democracy activists. Together with her brother Alaa Abdel Fattah and her sister Mona Seif, she led the protest movement that toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Since Abdul Fattah al-Sisi took power, Seif and her siblings have been campaigning against the repression of the military regime and for democratic change.

And they are paying a high price: Alaa Abdel Fattah has been in prison almost continuously for ten years, currently in Wadi el-Natrun prison in the north of Cairo. Sanaa Seif has also been imprisoned several times, most recently in 2021. She is currently visiting London, where her sister has lived for some time. 

Ms Seif, how is your brother doing?

Sanaa Seif: He has had a dramatic few months. Alaa went on hunger strike last spring. In November he escalated the hunger strike, he didn't even drink water anymore. At the time, international leaders were meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh for the UN Climate Change Conference COP27.

Alaa wanted to send a signal and make it clear to the world that he could no longer stand the years of imprisonment. He collapsed in his cell. He was unconscious and had to be revived. Since then he has been taking food again. He looks healthier now and is also feeling better.

Easing of prison conditions post-COP27

How are his prison conditions? 

Seif: They have improved a bit since his breakdown. Alaa is now in a cell with a window so he can feel the sun. There is a television in his cell, he can watch sports channels, series and films. We are allowed to visit him once a month for twenty minutes, behind a glass pane. But the glass pane is a problem.

Alaa's son Khaled, who is now 12, is non-verbal and does not communicate with words. He would not understand why his father is behind a sheet of glass. Alaa last saw him two years ago. Apart from that, Alaa is doing better than before. He is allowed to read books and magazines and is more connected to the world after years of isolation. He knows, of course, that the regime did not improve the prison conditions out of charity. 

Why then?

Seif: At COP27, I joined up with Egyptian civil society organisations. We used international publicity to talk about Alaa's condition and the human rights abuses in Egypt which attracted a lot of attention. Climate protection groups demonstrated strong support for the political prisoners.

Heads of state such as Olaf Scholz, Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron all called on the Sisi regime to release Alaa. Then a video went viral in Egypt showing a pro-regime MP being taken out of the hall by security guards after he tried to sabotage my press conference. It was embarrassing for the regime. This sudden attention to the human rights situation and my brother took the Egyptian authorities by surprise. That is why they are now treating him a little more humanely than before.

Alaa Abdel Fattah was an icon of the Egyptian revolution. In 2014, he was sentenced to five years in prison for demonstrating without a permit. He was released in 2019, but was arrested again shortly afterwards and sentenced to another five years in prison in December 2021 for sharing a post online about human rights abuses in Egyptian detention centres. Did you expect such a harsh sentence?

Seif: I did not expect such the huge escalation in violence. Alaa was taken to a maximum security prison after his arrest and beaten and tortured on his very first days there. He was not allowed to read books or wear a watch, he did not even know what day it was or what time it was. This went on for more than two years until they transferred him to Wadi el-Natrun prison last year.

Today, Khaled, the son of Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah, turns 11 years old. @Alaa should be free and celebrating with his son. Instead, he's been behind bars for and missed all of Khaled's birthdays since he was born except for one.#FreeAlaa #SaveAlaa pic.twitter.com/WOAeDNqCGi

— Mai El-Sadany (@maitelsadany) December 6, 2022

The whole procedure was unjust. There was no trial, the judge simply imposed a sentence. When Alaa's lawyer Mohamed el-Baker tried to defend Alaa before the prosecution, he too was arrested. I never expected such a level of injustice. 

Driven by fears of a new popular uprising

Is the regime concerned with making an example of your brother and deterring other critics?

Seif: When you put it like that, it sounds as if the terrible treatment of Alaa follows a certain logic, but it is all completely irrational. The regime is still obsessed with the 2011 revolution. It's ages since the overthrow of Mubarak and the democracy movement of that time has been defeated. But Sisi can't get over it, he is driven by the fear of a new popular uprising.

That is why, on the one hand, he is persecuting the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood who were briefly in power after the revolution. On the other hand, the crackdown on Alaa and his comrades-in-arms serves to silence the secular opposition, those middle-class citizens who wanted to transform Egypt into a secular democracy.

Is the fear of a new uprising realistic? 

Seif: No, at least not in the form of a peaceful revolution like in 2011. The grassroots movement had been preparing for this for years. No such criticism of the system exists right now. The people criticising the regime right now are doing so out of necessity. Egypt is in a severe economic crisis, prices are exploding and people are becoming more and more impoverished.

In addition, the new generation of activists who organised the smaller protests in 2019 doesn't even know Alaa. They are much younger; they don't belong to the group of people who once protested on Tahrir Square. The regime needs to get over its paranoia. It needs to take care of more pressing issues, such as the economic crisis and the poor management of resources. Otherwise, there could be violence.

You were detained three times, the last time in June 2020. What happened?

Seif: During the COVID pandemic, prison visits were suspended. Alaa could only tell us how he was doing in detention through his letters. Then the prison authorities also wanted to ban letter writing. Alaa had been severely tortured at the time, we were worried about his health, not least because of the lack of hygiene in prison.

We filed a complaint, but to no avail. After three months of not receiving a single letter from Alaa, my mother decided one day to go to the prison and wait outside until she heard from Alaa. My sister and I went to see her the next day. Suddenly a group of women came towards us, they beat us, especially me, the guards were watching.

I sustained serious injuries. The next day we wanted to file a complaint against the thugs at the public prosecutor's office. I was taken away by a security guard in front of the building, he said there was a warrant for my arrest.

"Egypt is a failed state"

You were accused of spreading false news and inciting terrorist offences. The regime could not provide any evidence, but you were still imprisoned until December 2021. What was your time in prison like?

Seif: It was harder than before. I was allowed to have visitors, but an official sat with me and recorded all my conversations. Women's prisons are not as bad as men's prisons, where detainees have to hear people being tortured every day. But every now and then I heard prisoners screaming in pain. They put four, five prisoners in a cell that was just big enough for one person. I have witnessed guards inciting prisoners to attack fellow prisoners, especially people from the LGBTQ scene. 

President Sisi has turned Egypt into a police state. Human rights organisations criticise the brutal repression. According to their reports, Sisi has his critics monitored and punished with all severity. More than 60,000 people are said to be in prison for political reasons. Did the democracy movement ever have a real chance? 

Seif: In retrospect, I can say: we had no chance against the massive resistance and countless setbacks. There is no organised political opposition in Egypt. Under such a repressive regime, liberal and secular politicians can't do much. And the regime's stooges do what is asked of them to keep the system going.

For example, the official in charge of me in prison, who was supposed to monitor to whom I spoke and about what, did not necessarily see me as a serious threat to national security. He wrote these reports about me because it helped him get ahead professionally, and he was promoted. He would not have got the promotion had he written his reports on IS supporters.

Such a system compels people to obey. Nevertheless, the revolution was important. Without the revolution and its failure, we would not have known that this state was not ready for any reforms. Before, we thought that with a change in political consciousness, institutions like the army and police could reform themselves. Now we know that Egypt is a failed state.

More pressure needed from outside

Is Egypt's civil society still active at all?

Seif: It's impressive that there are still independent journalists, lawyers and human rights activists in Egypt who continue to work despite the repression. But that's not enough to hold a country together, it needs a strong civil society. Since Sisi does not care about morals, human rights or the well-being of political prisoners, more pressure is needed from his partners. Unfortunately, the opposite has happened in recent years: the Gulf states have given Sisi a blank cheque, and Donald Trump has even called Sisi his favourite dictator. For Sisi, such statements were a confirmation that he doesn't need to fear any consequences for his brutality. Putin's war in Ukraine makes it even more difficult to hold Sisi accountable.

The global climate conference COP27 is underway amidst a human rights crisis in Egypt. Away from Sharm El-Sheikh, 1000s are unjustly jailed in horrid conditions, including Alaa Abdel Fattah, who after 219 days has escalated his hunger strike and stopped drinking water. #SaveAlaa pic.twitter.com/atVf2LzkGQ

— Amnesty International USA (@amnestyusa) November 15, 2022

How so?

Seif: Dictators like Sisi see Putin as a role model. If Putin is not held accountable for his crimes, they have nothing to fear. Also, the dependencies are shifting. The European leaders no longer want to be dependent on Russian gas exports. That's why the EU signed an agreement with Sisi to get gas from Egypt in the future.

This means the Europeans will be even more reluctant to criticise Sisi. And the U.S. administration fears that Sisi could move further towards Russia, which is why American politicians ensnare Sisi and ignore his human rights abuses. It's disappointing that even the Democrats, who stand for values like the rule of law and freedom, are so cautious about Sisi.

Sisi's apparatus of repression fosters instability

The German government also sees Sisi as a partner. Egypt has been one of German arms exporters' best customers in recent years. Does that make you angry?

Seif: Yes. Germany's arms exports and economic deals have strengthened Sisi's abuse of power and made my country poorer. The new government does, however, appear to be somewhat more critical of Sisi than the previous one. More restrictive laws for arms exports are being discussed among the Greens. German society also seems to be questioning what arms deliveries to Arab dictators mean for the region.

I don't understand why a country like Germany doesn't fight for its own interests more strongly. Sisi's apparatus of repression leads to great instability, and this will also have consequences for Germany. More and more Egyptians will flee to Europe if they no longer see any prospects in Egypt. The German and European heads of state must urge Sisi to implement reforms, otherwise the next migration crisis is inevitable.

Hopes for democratic change were also dashed in Tunisia, Syria and Lebanon. Why were the autocrats able to prevail?

Seif: Obviously it is easier for these states to leave things as they are than to implement real change. I hope that one day the autocratic systems will implode, because people have finally understood that they do not lead to prosperity and stability. Democracy can be fragile, but it is the best form of governance we have.

We don't need foreign intervention in the Middle East to build democracies. The disastrous consequences of the U.S. invasion of Iraq are still visible today. We must solve our domestic problems ourselves. This is made more difficult by the fact that Western states are actively playing into the hands of the autocrats and their apparatuses of repression. We need a safe space to strengthen civil society and build political opposition.

Together with your mother and sister you work tirelessly for your brother's release – organising protests, collecting signatures, travelling the world to put pressure on politicians. What needs to happen for him to be released?

Seif: The international community must put more pressure on Sisi. The UN Human Rights Council needs to make Egypt a priority. In March 2021, 32 member states issued a joint statement clearly addressing the human rights crisis in Egypt. We urge the Council to reiterate such a position. Following the latest statement, the Egyptian authorities adopted a new human rights strategy, formed a parole committee and released political prisoners. These measures are political cosmetics, but they do show that the regime will respond to pressure.

Your mother was born in Great Britain, so you and your siblings have the British as well as the Egyptian citizenship. What responsibility does the British government have?

Seif: It bears huge responsibility for Alaa, yet it refuses to take it. The British government is completely incompetent and has been primarily focused on domestic issues ever since Brexit. It could use its influence on Sisi. When I was last in detention, I received a visit from the British Consul. After that, my detention conditions improved and the guards made sure I had no complaints.

From then on, they also left my cellmates alone. That's why I'm urging the British Consul to visit Alaa as well. The Egyptian authorities have so far refused to do so, because they won't accept Alaa's dual citizenship, even though he holds both passports. It's very disappointing that the British authorities are not putting more pressure on the authorities in Cairo.

Trade deals with Egypt are apparently more important to the Brits than their own citizens. I hope countries like Germany will do more to secure Alaa's release. My government has failed me.

Interview conducted by Andrea Backhaus.

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