Egyptian activists announced that the security forces had arrested the mother of the Egyptian political prisoner, Abd Al-Rahman Al-Shuwaikh, and his sister.

News of the arrest came about 24 hours after a recorded letter from Al-Shuwaikh’s mother, demanding her son’s life be saved from the torture and sexual abuse he suffers in the high-security Minya Prison.

Egyptian activists shared Abd Al-Rahman’s brother’s message that Egyptian security forces raided their home and arrested his mother and sister.

Omar Al-Shuwaikh, the brother of Abdul Rahman Al-Shuwaikh, in successive posts on his account on Facebook, said that the Egyptian security forces raided his mother’s house. They took her and his younger sister in their home clothes to the State Security headquarters in Al-Maasara (South Cairo). Omar added that the security forces photographed his mother and sister in inappropriate house clothes as they did not allow them to get changed.

Abdel Rahman Al-Shuwaikh’s mother published an audio message in which she was pleading for help to save her son’s life after he announced a hunger strike. Abdel Rahman began a hunger strike to protest against the sexual and physical assaults he was subjected to by a criminal prisoner, with the blessing and participation of officers and soldiers in prison.

The arrest of Abdel Rahman’s mother and sister coincided with the broadcast of the series “The Choice 2.” The series paints an angelic image of police officers and denies all accusations by human rights organisations.

The National Security officer appears in that series more than once, confirming that he does not target the families of wanted men. That scene sparked widespread mockery on social media. Egyptian activists re-published these videos, accompanied by questions about the fate of Al-Shuwaikh’s mother and sister.