Labour lawyer and activist Haitham Mohamedein was seized by Egyptian security forces early on 18 May, according to local media reports and human rights activists. National Security officers and police were reported to have stormed his house, taking him away to an unknown location.

Haitham has been the target of repression by the Egyptian state many times in the past. He was one of over a thousand arrested in the crackdown over protests against the sell-off of the Tiran and Sanafir Islands by the Egyptian government to Saudi Arabia in April 2016. He is one of Egypt’s best known labour lawyers, and an activist with the Revolutionary Socialists. He has worked tirelessly to defend striking workers from attack by the state and employers both in on the picket line and in the courtroom, representing bus workers, health workers, steel workers and rail workers as well as victims of police torture and abuse. He was arrested previously in September 2013 while on the way to represent steel workers in Suez who had been arrested after the police attacked their sit-in, sparking an international solidarity campaign supported by the leaders the UK trade union movement.

What you can do:

• Send urgent messages of protest at Haitham’s arrest to the Egyptian embassy in your country