Ironically, under Morsi, when the world railed against the “Islamization” of Egypt, The Daily Beast reported the start of a fledgling LGBT rights movement, as young gay activists launched online awareness campaigns via Facebook and Twitter.

But with the resurgence of the police state after last July’s military coup, LGBT people have become the focus of persecution that the Interior Ministry takes pride in publicizing. The “moral department” of the police force, tasked with managing public behavior, has put local journalists on speed dial to cover the gay arrests. Reporters film the cops’ dramatic raids. Videos of terrified men and women, handcuffed and heads bowed, are gleefully broadcast by Egyptian news networks along with their names and sometimes their addresses.

This will likely get worse as police bolster their web surveillance capabilities. A request for contract proposals leaked to the local press earlier this month showed that the Interior Ministry is seeking to set up a system to scan social media sites and mobile applications like Facebook, Twitter and What’s App for “destructive ideas”— including immorality and profanity.

Young gay men like Ahmed fear the situation will only get worse since Sisi’s recent election gives him what he’ll call a popular mandate for whatever repressive measures he wants to take against any part of society that doesn’t fit his vision of Egypt. For now, Ahmed is stuck in the country’s terrifying judicial system. The police report against him was fabricated, he says. His retrial has been postponed indefinitely. And so he keeps running.