After beginning his advocacy on the detainees,
who were later released, Bahgat was contacted by SSIS officer
Walid El-Desouki, who is well known in Egypt's NGO and
opposition circles. Bahgat described El-Desouki as
"thuggish" and said he was relieved when El-Desouki was
replaced in 2003 by Sharif El-Damati, whom he described as a
"yuppie SSIS officer for a yuppie kid like me." Bahgat noted
that he and El-Damati established a modus vivendi, based on
Bahgat's willingness to provide publicly-available
information about EIPR in response to visits to EIPR by
El-Damati. El-Damati, however, was reassigned in spring
2004, after he testified in the trial of anti-war activist
Ashraf Ibrahim who was exonerated on charges of defaming
Egypt by passing information abroad on human rights abuses.