A plainclothes security force arrested director and screenwriter Omar Salah Marei from his home in Sarayat Maadi on Monday evening and took him to an unknown location, his wife, Nora Elsayed, told Al Manassa. She said the family had yet to learn where he was being held or why he was arrested.
Elsayed said the incident began around 7 pm, when the force, accompanied by a Central Security Forces vehicle, went to the broker who had rented them the apartment and asked him about a flat where a director named Omar Salah Marei lived, before taking him to the building.
She said the force went up to the apartment, where Omar was alone, then took him, along with the broker and the building doorman, to Maadi Police Station, which later denied he was there.
According to his wife’s account, the broker and doorman remained inside the station for about six hours before they were released, while the family received no information about Omar.
Omar Salah Marei’s apartment after its contents were smashed by the forces that stormed it on Monday, May 11, 2026She said she returned to the apartment around 9 pm and found signs of damage to its contents, adding that the door and some furniture had been broken. “The force broke the door, the dining table and the wardrobe, and pulled apart the bed slats,” she said, adding that she discovered “50,000 Egyptian pounds ($925), four MacBook laptops, and two phones, an iPhone and a Samsung, were missing.”
She added that the family went with lawyers to the Maadi police station, but officers denied he was being held there. The family also tried to ask about him at the Supreme State Security Prosecution and other detention sites, but received no information.
Elsayed said one neighbor, whom she described as a retired counselor, came out of his apartment during the incident after hearing heavy knocking on the apartment door. When he asked the force what was happening, they told him, according to her account, “Mind your own business. We have been monitoring him since the days of the El Gouna Festival.”
Elsayed believes the incident may be linked to Omar’s professional positions and his repeated remarks about conditions for workers in the arts, wages, and market monopoly.
Reza Marei, the lawyer assisting Omar’s family, told Al Manassa that the family sent telegrams to the prosecutor general and the interior minister about the incident and is awaiting any official information on where he is being held. He said a complaint to the prosecutor general had not been filed at the time he spoke to Al Manassa.
The Berlin-based Law and Democracy Support Foundation also issued a statement condemning Omar’s arrest, calling his continued detention away from his family and lawyers an “enforced disappearance.” The foundation called for his place of detention to be disclosed and for him to be granted his legal rights and necessary medical care.
The foundation, which focuses on Egyptian human rights affairs, warned that Omar’s health could deteriorate because he needs daily thyroid medication and recently underwent wrist surgery from which he is still recovering. It called for the immediate disclosure of his place of detention, his release, and an independent investigation into the home raid and the accompanying “damage and seizure of personal belongings.”
His wife also said he needs regular medication and is recovering from recent wrist surgery, deepening her fears since contact with him was cut off after his arrest.
Marei is one of the young names in Egyptian independent cinema. He has taken part in several short films at local and international festivals, including “Balah” and “Glass Window,” which won best short film at the Hollywood International Film Festival and best director at the Diva Short Film Festival in 2017, according to his IMDb page.
Omar also directed “Selfie” as part of a Luxor African Film Festival workshop and previously won the best screenplay award at the Cairo festival for “Flight of His Excellency the Commander.”
