Abdelrahman: “You forgetting everything outside and everyone outside forgetting you”

Episode 54

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Abdelrahman was arrested at the age of 17, just a curious young bystander in Egypt’s revolutionary chaos. He thought the police would soon realise their mistake and let him go. But they never let him go for, no for more than six years of his young life and his family’s tireless campaigning.

In this interview, Abdelrahman talks to Refugee Radio about how he learnt to survive in his new life as a political prisoner, about some of the characters he met and about the ever-present fear of becoming another ghost, forgotten by the outside world.

The image on this podcast shows Abdelrahman conducting an act of everyday resistance as he refuses to stop smiling for his prison mugshot, frustrating the guards and inspiring other inmates to assert their humanity in the face of dehumanising treatment and abuse.

Abdelrahman now writes for the independent news outlet, Mada Masr, and you can read some of his articles online: https://www.madamasr.com/en/contributor/abdelrahman-al-gendy/

With music from Cairokee.

Refugee Radio would like to thank Prisoners of Conscience for their help in putting us in touch with Abdelrahman.

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Episode 54