{"id":537076,"date":"2026-03-21T17:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T17:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/537076\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T17:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T17:03:10","slug":"eagles-of-the-republic-actor-detained-in-egypt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/537076\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Eagles Of The Republic’ Actor Detained In Egypt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFilmmakers behind the award-winning drama-thriller Eagles of the Republic<\/a> are demanding the immediate release of actor Hassan El Sayed, who is being held in Egypt on what they say are trumped up charges for participating in the film.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe stand by the principle that art must never become a pretext for punishment,\u201d producers Linus St\u00f6hr Torell, Johan Lindstr\u00f6m, Linda Mutawi, Alexandre Mallet-Guy, co-producers Monica Hellstr\u00f6m, Misha Jaari, and Mark Lwoff, and executive producer Emil Wiklund write in a letter addressed to Public Prosecutor Mohamed Shawky Ayyad. The letter, shared with Deadline, adds, \u201cWe are particularly troubled by reports of Hassan El Sayed\u2019s enforced disappearance, limited access to legal counsel, and the impact of his detention on his mental well-being.\u201d [See the full text below].<\/p>\n

\n\tAmnesty International is also calling for El Sayed\u2019s release. The rights group says on its website, \u201cOn 20 December 2025, Egyptian national and Danish resident Hassan El Sayed was arrested upon his arrival at Cairo International Airport. National Security Agency officials questioned him about his role in the movie Eagles of the Republic, where he appeared very briefly as a priest. Following his arrest, he was taken before a prosecutor, who ordered his pretrial detention pending investigations into the charge of \u2018joining a terrorist group while being aware of its objectives.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Actor<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tActor Fares Fares (right) in \u2018Eagles of the Republic\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCohen Media Group<\/p>\n

\n\tEagles of the Republic premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last May. It stars actor Fares Fares in the story of a famed actor who is forced to portray Egypt\u2019s actual president, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, in a project meant to appeal to El-Sisi\u2019s vanity. Hassan El Sayed, the actor detained in Cairo, appears on screen in the film for only about 20 seconds.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHassan El Sayed is not a political figure nor is he engaged in activism, he is an actor. He is a private individual and long-time Danish resident who, like many others, occasionally participates in film productions in minor roles. His involvement in Eagles of the Republic was extremely limited,\u201d the filmmakers write in their letter to the prosecutor, \u201cperformed without access to the full script or broader narrative context of the film.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe letter continues, \u201cWe wish to state clearly and unequivocally that Hassan El Sayed had no influence over the content, message, or framing of the film. As producers, we bear full responsibility for the artistic and editorial decisions behind the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe producers add, \u201cFilm is a medium of artistic expression, and participation in a film, especially in such a minor capacity, must never be grounds for detention or prosecution. To hold an individual criminally liable for a brief, acting role constitutes a serious violation of fundamental human rights, including the right to freedom of expression and artistic participation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe letter contains four demands in bullet-point format, addressed \u201crespectfully but firmly\u201d to the Egyptian counsellor, Mohamed Shawky Ayyad:<\/p>\n

\n\t\u25cf The immediate and unconditional release of Hassan El Sayed<\/p>\n

\n\t\u25cfThe dropping of all charges against him<\/p>\n

\n\t\u25cfFull access to his legal counsel and family<\/p>\n

\n\t\u25cfAssurance of his safe return to his family in Denmark<\/p>\n

\n\tAyyad is no mere \u201cdistrict attorney.\u201d He was sworn in by President El-Sisi himself in 2023 as prosecutor-general. He reportedly served previously as an assistant minister of justice.<\/p>\n

\n\tAmnesty International<\/a> is asking supporters to \u201ctake action\u201d on behalf of El Sayed by writing to Ayyad. It provides a \u201cmodel letter\u201d that includes this paragraph:<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHassan El Sayed is currently detained in the 10th of Ramadan prison. His lawyer is barred from visiting him and can only visit him during online hearings. Hassan El Sayed\u2019s family last visited him on 14 March, and said that while he remains physically stable, his mental health was severely impacted by his detention.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIMDb lists more than a dozen acting credits for El Sayed, including Cairo Conspiracy (2022), The Charmer (2017), and Flow (2014).<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is the letter from the Eagles of the Republic team addressed to the public prosecutor:<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Letter<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of producers of \u2018Eagles of the Republic\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Filmmakers behind the award-winning drama-thriller Eagles of the Republic are demanding the immediate release of actor Hassan El…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[240766,88,206],"class_list":["post-537076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-eagles-of-the-republic","tag-entertainment","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}