Note: The name has been changed, but the facts have not.

Mostafa was a devoted father of three who balanced his Egyptian family life with his entrepreneurial work as CEO of a trading and distribution company.

During the Arab Spring revolution, Mostafa and his wife had different opinions on who should take power. Mostafa’s wife supported the Muslim Brotherhood, but he did not. In 2013, when Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was removed from office, Mostafa’s wife became hostile towards Mostafa, demanding that he join her “side.”

The political and religious devotion of his wife seemed to turn to obsession, and he no longer recognized her. Her family also tried to convince him to side with the Muslim Brotherhood, and when he refused, they belittled him and called him “kafir” (a heretic) in front of his children.

About a year later, Mostafa’s brother-in-law, who worked for the Muslim Brotherhood, approached Mostafa about spying against Americans in Egypt; he sought information about their locations. When Mostafa refused, his brother-in-law took it as a sign that Mostafa was a traitor who must be dealt with accordingly.

Soon after, the Muslim Brotherhood burned down Mostafa’s business in Sinai. When Mostafa mentioned the arson to his brother-in-law, he replied that bad things happen to people who “do not believe in Allah.”

Soon after that, Mostafa was walking close to the Nile River at night when two men on motorcycles harassed him; one pulled out a gun and fired two shots over his head. “Next time” the man said, “I won’t miss.” Panicked, Mostafa called his brother-in-law, who coldly gave him the same message.

Mostafa knew it was time to run. He divorced his wife and escaped to the United States in June 2015.

Later that year, LCSNW’s Safe Route Immigration program filed an asylum application for Mostafa, and in 2018, he was granted asylum status. Mostafa later petitioned for his children to join him, and in 2022, his oldest son was approved and moved to Portland. Mostafa filed for his two daughters to join him as well; he is trying to work with their mother to make that reunion happen.