These are the brothers Anas and Tarek H., themselves of Egyptian descent. They were arrested in their hotel room in the Belgian capital and their phones were confiscated to investigate the contents.
After questions from De Telegraaf, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that it is ‘familiar with this case’. “We provide consular assistance to those involved,” a spokesperson added. “We will not provide any further information about the reasons for the arrest.”
According to Belgian sources, the brothers are active in the Muslim Brotherhood and are accused of following and planning a threat to the president of Egypt during his stay in Brussels. Fattah Al-Sisi was there to participate in a European-Egyptian summit. Media in the North African country are writing extensively about the issue.
Sympathizers of the brothers strongly deny the threat, which is even said to be terrorist in nature. They believe that Brussels is participating in ‘the silencing of EU citizens on European soil on behalf of an authoritarian foreign state’.
The Dutch brothers Anas and Tarek H. were ‘arbitrarily arrested in Brussels’ on the night of October 22 to 23, according to one of the people who support them. “The charges were fabricated and filed at the direct request of the Egyptian regime, taking advantage of the president’s recent visit to the summit,” said this person, who expressly sought the media.
It is striking that three months ago the Dutch police had also arrested Anas H. in connection with an alleged attack on the Egyptian embassy in The Hague. He was released after interrogation.
He is said to have protested there against the closure of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza. He symbolically padlocked the Egyptian embassy. A video of this has now been viewed more than a million times, and thus aroused the interest of authorities in various countries.
Anas H. is an activist who regularly uses his social media channels to criticize Egypt’s action, or lack thereof, on the situation in Gaza. strongly criticizes He has previously called the government in Cairo ‘traitors’. “You are a disgrace to Egypt,” he shouted.
Organization of protest march in Egypt: about 35 arrested Dutch people had to surrender their passports and wait for hours
Several Egyptian embassies in Europe have reportedly been targeted by protesters in recent weeks. Cairo described these incidents as “malicious and suspicious actions” and called on European governments to be alert and protect the buildings and the people who work there.