When the Arab Spring came to Egypt in 2011, Khaled Al-Qazzaz was full of hope for the country’s future.

Instead, he and his wife Sarah Attia were caught up in a three-year nightmare that left them and their four young children struggling to recover from emotional scars — and Al-Qazzaz from serious physical injuries that may require years of rehabilitation.

A Canadian permanent resident and University of Toronto engineering graduate, he was arrested while serving as an aide to Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, who was ousted in a military-backed coup in July 2013.

Now back home in Mississauga, 37-year-old Al-Qazzaz recounted the ordeal that continued even after his release without charge in January 2015.

“The hardest parts were when I was separated from my children, not being able to make them feel safe,” he said. “And never knowing what was going to happen in the future. I was totally cut off from the outside world.”

Al-Qazzaz and Attia — a Canadian who was born in North York — met during graduate studies at U of T. Both deeply involved in human rights and social justice issues, they fell in love and married in 2004.

On the eve of Egypt’s 2011 Tahrir Square revolution they were in Cairo, helping Khaled’s ailing father to run a chain of private schools. Sarah became a school principal and ran volunteer programs in orphanages and homes for the elderly.

“So many new opportunities opened up,” said Al-Qazzaz. “What we taught in the schools had more meaning. And with our experiences across cultures we could bridge the gap between Egyptians and people in other countries.”

When the first free elections were called, in 2012, Al-Qazzaz was excited by the prospect of a new era of democracy and respect for human rights in Egypt.

Although he had not been involved in politics and was not a member of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, he believed that after deposed president Hosni Mubarak’s authoritarian rule ended, “at last it was possible to have direct access to real, positive social change. Everything we hoped for we could do.”

Al-Qazzaz’s language skills and experience in Canada, as well as with social justice issues, made him an asset for the newly elected government and he agreed to became Morsi’s foreign affairs adviser and a liaison with foreign officials. He helped to start a human rights office, headed by a woman, and prepared to open a branch of the UN women’s agency.

But his dreams of a democratic future melted down as anger against Morsi rose and massive demonstrations against him began. Morsi was accused of autocratic and incompetent rule and failing to restore security. The economy declined and voters felt betrayed.

The backlash turned violent when Morsi supporters took to the streets, sparking a bloody crackdown by security forces. Hundreds were killed and more than 40,000 suspected Morsi sympathizers arrested, as well as curious bystanders.

It was a dramatic end to Al-Qazzaz’s hopes. Along with Morsi and others working for the government he was arrested, then held in a military administration building for more than five months in secret.

“When he was arrested it was his birthday, and we had a cake for him,” said Attia. “Khaled’s last message was ‘forgive me, I chose to stay.’ ”

For five months her efforts to learn her husband’s fate came to nothing and he was unable to contact her. Then he was taken to the maximum security wing of Cairo’s feared Tora Prison, known as “the Scorpion.”

It was designed especially for political prisoners, its brutal conditions widely documented. In a recent report, Human Rights Watch said that among other abuses, inmates are isolated, beaten and denied food and medicine.

For 11 months, Al-Qazzaz was locked in solitary confinement in an insect-infested, unventilated two-by-three metre cell with no natural light, his possessions taken away and even books and writing material forbidden.

At first he slept on a dirty concrete floor, which severely damaged his spine, and left him in constant pain. Later he was allowed “a sort of mattress.”

“The only thing I could do was talk to other prisoners, through (a slot) in the cell,” he said. One of them was Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy.

The conditions were so grim that even after Attia found where he was being held, she hesitated to take her children to visit him. Meanwhile, the authorities could find no case against Al-Qazzaz — but refused to release him.

“I had injuries to seven vertebrae,” said Al-Qazzaz. “The sanitary conditions were terrible and I had skin and stomach problems. My health was deteriorating.” After nearly a year of isolation and threatened by paralysis he was taken to a private hospital, but under detention.

Finally, in January 2015, he was released. But in April, when the family attempted to fly to Toronto, they were turned back. In spite of assurances that there were no charges against Al-Qazzaz, he was barred from leaving the country.

Money saved for his medical care in Canada was confiscated and the couple’s bank accounts frozen — a situation that continues in spite of court orders for the return of the funds.

The Egyptian authorities eventually allowed him to leave in August, on medical and humanitarian grounds.

Al-Qazzaz credits Foreign Minister Stéphane Dion for his return to Canada, which was granted after Dion’s diplomatic visit to Egypt in May — as well as thousands of supporters throughout the world who campaigned for his exit. “The government at different levels was very helpful,” he said. “They even escorted Sarah and the kids to make sure they were safe.”

Since his return he is struggling to regain his health. A tall man with a large frame, he lost 65 kilograms since his prison ordeal and is under medical care.

Children Abdelrahman, 10, Amena, 8, Fatema, 6, and Tahrir, 4, are also readjusting to life in Canada. “The little one, Tahrir, didn’t even know Khaled at first, because she was so small when he was taken away,” said Attia. “But they are happy here. They’re with friends and cousins, they’re back in their schools. But they still have a lot of fears.”

The couple has launched an NGO to promote democracy and human rights, the Al-Qazzaz Foundation for Education and Development.

“Our first project is to provide education as well as mental-health services for underprivileged communities that don’t have them,” said Al-Qazzaz. “That’s where the biggest need is. Going through this experience we understand that. It’s what needs to be done so that people, whoever they are, can have a better future.”