Aya Hijazi’s family members have called on the US to intervene before Donald Trump, who signalled he intends to build close ties with Egypt, takes office

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

On the night of 1 May 2014, Egyptian police climbed the six floors to the offices of the Belady Foundation, an organisation aiding Cairo street children, and arrested everyone inside.

Officers gathered laptops and phones that would later be investigated for evidence, and also arrested several of the street children cared for by the NGO.

Its founders – American-Egyptian citizen Aya Hijazi, and her husband Mohammed Hassanein – were arrested along with two other employees. Four more were simultaneously arrested across Egypt’s capital.

It would be two days before Hijazi’s family members were able to locate her and her husband inside Egypt’s labyrinthine prison system.

It took four months for Hijazi and her co-defendants to be charged with a range of offences, including human trafficking, sexual exploitation of children and using the children for protests against the security forces.

'No end in sight': detention wears on for American who ran Egypt children's clinic Read more

“We know, they know, and everyone knows that these are trumped-up charges,” said Basel Hijazi, Aya’s brother.

They have since spent more than 900 days in pre-trial detention, even after a forensic science report commissioned by Egypt’s public prosecutor found no evidence that the children cared for by the Belady Foundation had been sexually assaulted. “Any evidence that the government might try and use against them is by definition fabricated,” said Wade McMullen, the head of Hijazi’s US legal team.



A recent report by legal observers found that Hijazi’s case had repeatedly violated both international law as well as Egypt’s own constitution. But such objections may have little impact when Hijazi next enters a Cairo courtroom on 17 December.



Hijazi’s family members have called on the United States to intervene, but time could be running out for Hijazi, as the incoming Trump administration has already signalled it intends to build close ties with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.

Sisi has prevailed over the harshest crackdown on human rights in Egyptian history, targeting political opponents, journalists and NGO workers.

Yet when the pair met on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in September, Donald Trump had only praise for Sisi’s leadership, saying that under his administration: “The United States of America will be a loyal friend, not simply an ally, that Egypt can count on in the days and years ahead.”

The Egyptian foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, met Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, in early December. Families of those previously detained in Egypt say that engaging the state department to do more was already tough, but under Trump it could prove near impossible.

For the first two years of Aya’s detention, the Hijazi family relied on quiet assistance by the US embassy in Cairo but declined higher level political or media pressure.



“We thought that bringing in the Americans would do more harm than good,” explained Basel, given that so much of the initial outrage in the Egyptian press had been directed at Aya’s American nationality.

But after a string of deferments, the Hijazis changed tactics earlier this year.



“Pressure is key,” said Hanaa Soltan, the sister of Egyptian-American citizen Mohamed Soltan, who was freed from an Egyptian prison in May 2015, following a 16-month hunger strike.

Soltan, said that US citizens can fall victim to broader political concerns when it comes to how the state department chooses to handle a particular case.



“The lesson we learned is that you have to force them to going above and beyond to give citizens abroad their rights, otherwise all they’ll do is show up for the required visit [to the prison] every four to six weeks,” Soltan said.

The Soltans, who have become the hub in a network of concerned relatives, say that there are far more Americans secretly imprisoned in Egypt. “There are six or seven more families that have directly reached out to us for help,” said Hanaa Soltan. “But speaking to folks who are familiar with the subject, the numbers are higher, in the low to mid-30s.”

Trump previously vowed to put “America and Americans first” in a campaign speech. But Hijazi’s case means this pledge may falter over his newfound friendship with the Egyptian president.



The added uncertainty of what could happen after Trump’s inauguration has made Hijazi’s case all the more urgent. “It’s transition time,” said Hanaa Soltan. “God only knows what’ll happen after January.”