Anas Beltagy: A Case Study of Sisi's Regime Persecuting Families of Opponents

Since seizing power in 2014, Egypt's military ruler Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has overseen an unprecedented expansion of the security state.

Under his regime, a level of repression has been unleashed against his opponents that surpasses even the harsh measures of his predecessors.

El-Sisi stands as one of Egypt's most brutal leaders, orchestrating mass killings, extrajudicial executions, and an escalation of politically motivated death sentences.

Yet, what sets the general apart is his relentless persecution of not only his opponents but also their families, targeting sons and daughters, wives, and sisters alike.

This tactic has been evident in the treatment of prominent families like that of Dr. Mohamed Elbeltagy (a former parliamentarian and senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood), Khairat el-Shater (the group's deputy leader), and the late President Mohamed Morsi.

Beltagy Family

In the latest chapter of this grim policy, Amnesty International reported on November 28, 2024, the case of Anas Beltagy, the son of Mohamed Beltagy, who faces a death sentence in Sisi's prisons.

Anas has been unjustly detained for nearly 11 years, punished solely for his family ties.

His father, a key figure in the January 25, 2011 Revolution, was a vocal opponent of military rule and stood firmly against the 2013 coup.

The report detailed severe abuses since Anas's arrest in December 2013, including enforced disappearance, torture, and other forms of mistreatment.

In June 2024, Anas joined a hunger strike protesting these injustices. In response, he was placed in solitary confinement for three months.

Amnesty stated that these harsh measures have devastated his physical and mental health. He is also denied visits from his family and lawyer, further isolating him.

On December 24, 2013, Anas, then 20 years old, was arrested while visiting his detained father in Tora Prison with his mother. Both were assaulted by security forces and interrogated.

Although released on bail after 20 hours, Anas was rearrested on December 31, 2013, at a friend’s home in Cairo.

At Nasr City Police Station 1, authorities denied his detention and forcibly disappeared him for a month. During this time, he endured torture, was confined to an inhumane iron cage, and faced other abuses.

He was later moved to Abu Zaabal Prison, where he suffered solitary confinement and slept on a bare concrete floor.

Subsequent transfers to Tora Prison Complex and Badr Prison brought continued violations. At Badr Prison, Anas was placed in a freezing solitary cell with fluorescent lights kept on 24/7.

He was deprived of outdoor exercise, contact with other detainees, adequate food, clothing, or medical care.

In June 2014, he was punished for protesting his detention conditions by being sent to a disciplinary cell in al-Ashir Prison.

These cells lacked ventilation, natural light, and basic necessities. Detainees were often denied adequate food and water. After three months, he was returned to solitary confinement, where isolation and deprivation persist.

The Son and Daughter

During the remote pretrial detention hearings held since 2022, Anas has complained about his deteriorating health and the psychological toll of his imprisonment.

The judges ignored his grievances, and the sessions were often marred by technical issues, hindering meaningful legal representation.

His lawyers have reported instances where Anas was not shown on camera, raising concerns about his whereabouts.

Anas's persecution reflects the broader targeting of Dr. Mohamed Beltagy’s family. In August 2013, security forces killed his daughter, Asmaa, during the Rabaa massacre.

No official has been held accountable for the violent dispersal of the protest, and the family continues to face systematic harassment, forcing some, like his wife and eldest son, to flee Egypt.

The Morsi Family

The late Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, as the first elected civilian president in Egypt’s modern history, paid the highest price for the military coup led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on July 3, 2013.

However, his family was not spared from Sisi’s revenge. The relentless persecution they endured became evident following the president’s death on June 17, 2019, a moment that symbolized their unwavering resilience.

Then, just 80 days later, his youngest son, Abdullah, passed away on September 4, 2019. His death epitomized the ongoing story of the persecution, siege, and torture the Morsi family has faced.

Days before Abdullah's death, a judicial source announced that the Egyptian Judges' Club would pursue President Morsi’s heirs, demanding they pay a fine of one million Egyptian pounds (approximately $60,000) as compensation to Judge Ali Mohamed Al-Nemr in the case widely known as “Insulting the Judiciary.”

Abdullah, the president’s youngest son, had been one of the family’s most public figures, which led to continuous harassment and deliberate defamation.

On March 1, 2014, he was arrested for a year on charges of “drug use” along with a colleague, after they were found in a car in the suburb of al-Obour, in Qalyubia Governorate. Human rights activists dismissed the “drug use” case as fabricated, especially since both Abdullah and his colleague were released the following day.

However, authorities re-arrested him during a train trip to Upper Egypt, claiming he was attempting to flee justice. This was another attempt by the regime to tarnish the family’s reputation.

As for Osama, the late president’s son, he was arrested on December 9, 2016, in his home in Zagazig, al-Sharqia Governorate, after calling on the United Nations to address the human rights violations against his father in detention. He was accused of “violence against security forces” during the dispersal of the Rabaa and Nahda sit-ins.

The deliberate defamation and reputation attacks were not the final chapter in the regime's campaign against the late president's family. A lawyer with close ties to the regime filed a case before the Administrative Court, seeking to strip Shaima, the daughter of Mohamed Morsi, of her Egyptian citizenship for acquiring U.S. citizenship without prior authorization from Egyptian authorities.

The president’s wife, Naglaa Ali Mahmoud, also faced her share of persecution through media outlets. The first attack came from controversial journalist Mostafa Bakry, who published a book in March 2014, titled “Morsi in the Palace” in which he claimed that Naglaa had destroyed the imported bathroom tiles of the presidential palace and replaced them with ceramics, rejected the palace furniture in favor of Damietta-made furniture, and delayed moving into the palace until after June 30, 2013.

The late president had previously mentioned in an interview with journalist Amr Ellissy that his family did not live in the presidential palace because he preferred his rented home, which he considered more personal and suitable for family life, while using the palace only for official duties.

El-Shater Family

The family of Khairat el-Shater, the Deputy Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, is another example of a family that paid a heavy price for the revenge of Sisi, targeting a man once considered one of the most influential political and organizational leaders of the group.

The repressive measures taken by the coup authorities extended to the arrest of 10 family members.

Those detained included the head of the family, Khairat el-Shater, his two sons, Saad and Hassan, his daughter Aisha, and his brother-in-law Mahmoud Ghazlan; five sons-in-law were also arrested.

Beyond arbitrary detention and mistreatment, the family faced other forms of repression, including the confiscation of their assets and businesses, denial of visitation rights, inhumane detention conditions, and the fabrication of multiple retaliatory cases against them.

In 2020, Sarah, the daughter of Khairat el-Shater, sent a message to media outlets and human rights platforms, revealing the suffering of her incarcerated family members. She highlighted the punitive measures and security oppression they endured, as well as the denial of their constitutional and legal rights.

She issued a call for action to save her family from ongoing security harassment, expressing concern about the deteriorating health conditions of her father and sister Aisha, who had gone on a hunger strike in protest against her prolonged detention.

Aisha, in particular, was being punished for media coverage of her health and legal situation, facing the risk of death due to neglectful medical treatment.

‘Without Honor’

In response to new international reports, Egyptian human rights advocate Mustafa Ezzeddin Fouad said the approach of the current Egyptian regime, which targets the families of its opponents as a form of revenge, is unprecedented in Egypt's history.

“Neither Gamal Abdel Nasser, nor Anwar Sadat, nor Hosni Mubarak resorted to this, despite relying on repression and the use of vengeance,” he told Al-Estiklal.

“However, what is happening today is different in both form and substance. We are dealing with a political system without honor, capable of fabricating charges against children as young as four years old, as happened in 2013. Therefore, targeting the families of opponents is no longer surprising.”

In this context, Fouad highlighted the example of the el-Shater family, which has faced mistreatment on all levels—imprisonment, torture, and defamation. Even the media and dramatic series have not spared them.

“As for Mohamed Beltagy, he is a man who lost his daughter, shot and killed in cold blood at the age of just 17, a child. His two sons, Anas and Khaled, were imprisoned, while his wife and another son, Ammar, were forced to flee the country. What kind of honor, religion, or national conscience does this reflect?” 

“Sisi and his regime have destroyed societal peace through such practices; the country will need decades to move past this era and its lasting effects,” he concluded.