Hundreds of them have been arrested since 2013 as part of a broad crackdown on social freedoms by the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, which has killed hundreds of protesters and jailed thousands of political opponents. The crackdown has primarily targeted gay men and transgender women, groups that the Egyptian state and mass media do not consider distinct from each other. The next day he was arrested and charged by national security prosecutors - who usually investigate terrorism - with membership in “an illegal group trying to promote homosexual ideas,” according to his lawyer, Ramadan Mohamed. “They just said that they arrested gays to calm down the public.” Alaa seemed unconcerned about the uproar. In a telephone interview on Saturday, Mr. “This is about religions! This is about morals!”
“I am warning you against calling this a matter of personal freedom!” he told viewers.
