As a charismatic revolutionary from a scrappy Cairo neighbourhood, Ahmed Hassan was one of the stars of Jehane Noujaim’s 2013 documentary The Square, which followed a group of Egyptian activists as they toppled longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and then fought to keep their faltering revolution alive.

The film won three Emmy Awards and was nominated for the Oscars. But Hassan’s life got harder after it was released.

His work as a cinematographer and filmmaker dried up as production companies stopped hiring him, perhaps because he was blacklisted.

He had to abandon a film project after receiving threats. He could not carry a camera in the street without being harassed. Most of his friends were in prison, some had died.

“I felt like I was just centimetres from jail,” Hassan told Al Jazeera.

In 2018, he jumped at an opportunity to escape and went to Turkey, which has become a major hub for Arab exiles as many of the Arab Spring uprisings that first emerged a decade ago descended into violence and repression.

“You are able to carry a camera in Turkey. That is beautiful actually,” Hassan said. “Here, I’m walking and I feel free.

“I feel there is a government. I see the police but I’m not scared, it’s not like Egypt. I feel like there is law here.”

But life is also hard. Hassan says that, for him, Turkey looks like a watermelon with vivid, enticing red flesh.

“But when you bite into it, it’s salty, not sweet.”

Read the rest of the article published by Al Jazeera English here.