“I used to believe in the motto, ‘Our peacefulness is more powerful than bullets.’ But when bullets started being directed at us and we were accused of being terrorists, I started to believe only in force to preserve my beliefs and establish the Islamic State in Egypt.”

This is what a former Muslim Brotherhood youth told Al-Monitor when asked about the reason why he believes and supports the Islamic State (IS).

Al-Monitor met this young man, who refused to be named for fear of harassment by the security services, at an Egyptian prison 1½ years after he was arrested during the pro-Morsi sit-in on Aug. 14, 2013. He still hasn’t been tried. He explained why he believes in IS' ideology, and that he sees the approach of IS as a way for large religious currents to recover some of their rights. Egyptian youth like him have been hounded by the Egyptian security services since July 3, 2013, when President Mohammed Morsi was ousted.

The young man said, “Injustice and locking me up here on the pretext that I’m a terrorist without having done anything are stronger reasons for my despair than the belief in peacefulness, as some keep repeating. … Whether or not we take up arms, in the eyes of the state and Egyptians, we are terrorists, [and they believe] they have the right to lock us up, kill us, rape our daughters and sisters, while we sit idly by in prison.”