Sutton Amnesty have continued to be active on the case of dual Egyptian-British national Alaa Abdel Fattah under Barbara's lead. Barbara, together with Graham and Richard, attended a vigil in support of Alaa outside the Foreign Office on 3 July 2023. Both Mona (Alaa's sister who spoke to Sutton Amnesty at our January meeting), now a proud mother with her baby (already a campaigner!) and Laila Soueif (Alaa's mother) were present. Barbara has been able to report to us at recent meetings of improvements in Alaa's health. However Laila told Barbara that his conditions are still not as good as those of other inmates and her prison visits are restricted to 20 minutes. 

Barbara and others have been active with local MPs Elliot Colburn and  Paul Scully on Alaa's behalf. They have obtained reassurances from Lord Ahmad at the Foreign Office that the UK Government and our ambassador in Egypt have both been pressing for Alaa's release and lobbying for consular access. This has been withheld by the Egyptian Government, who do not recognise Alaa's UK citizenship. That consular access has not yet been granted is very disappointing,

There are some grounds for optimism in that Mohamed Baker (Alaa's lawyer) and Ahmed Douma (an associate of Alaa) have both recently been released from prison on 20 July 2023. Sutton members have written to the Egyptian authorities and the ambassador in London about the logical next step!  Alaa's profile and his consequent ability to influence together with the personal interest shown in his case by Egyptian President al-Sisi mean this is always going to be a challenge.