My telephone rings in the middle of the night. It's the Egyptian number of one of my friends. "Ayman is arrested", says my friend.
Still sleepy I ask him "Ayman who?" He responds: "Ayman Abdel Meguid, your friend". I am immediately awake and I ask him why, where?
It was 28 December, an otherwise quiet day between Christmas and New Year. Ayman was arrested by 10 plain-clothed security men in his sleeping room, in front of his wife and daughter.
In panic, his wife Dohha ask...
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Koert Debeuf lives in Cairo where he is political analyst and visiting research fellow, CRIC, Oxford University.