Egypt: At 14 Haitham was one of youngest political prisoners: ‘They forgot I was a child’
Former Egyptian child prisoner Haitham Abdel Rahim. Four years on from his arrest one of Egypt’s child political prisoners Haitham Abdel Rahim recalls 50 days of torture.
By: Amelia Smith
At 2 am on 3 October 2015 Osama Abdel Rahim had just returned home from work and was taking a shower. His elderly grandmother was in her room, his mother and father were out, and his older and younger brothers were asleep.
He stepped out of the bathroom to see ten masked officers and four plain-clothed police in the hallway.
“Where’s Haitham?” one of them asked. He paused as he tried to register what was going on, then pointed towards his brother’s bedroom.
Inside the room Haitham, who was then just 14 years old, woke up to see a tall, angry man with a huge moustache surrounded by offic...


