On October 31, 2018, at around 11 p.m., state security forces broke into, and raided, Abdul Rahman’s house in Cairo. They arrested him without a warrant and took him to an unknown location. At the same time, the officers arrested his wife, Aisha Mohamed Khairat Saad Al Shater. For 21 days, Abdul Rahman’s fate and whereabouts remained unknown.

On November 11, 2018, the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances sent a communication to the Egyptian authorities requesting that they clarify Abdul Rahman’s fate and whereabouts. Ten days later, he was presented before the state security prosecutor in Cairo, who accused him of “joining an illegal group” and “inciting harm to the national economy”, and ordered his pre-trial detention.

On March 4, 2019, Egyptian authorities replied to the communication sent by the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, stating that Abdul Rahman was charged in Supreme State Security Court Case No. 1552/2018 and is detained at Tora Prison, Cairo.

Abdul Rahman’s arrest took place amidst a wave of arrests occurring in late October 2018, which targeted at least 40 human rights lawyers and activists.