Egypt: call for UK national Alaa Abdel Fattah to be released at end of jail term

The prominent blogger, writer and human rights activist is due to be released on Sunday after five years of arbitrary imprisonment

Egypt has track record of submitting political detainees to ‘rotation’, where bogus reasons are found to deny their release  

‘The UK government should pull out all the stops to ensure Alaa walks free this Sunday’ - Sacha Deshmukh  

The Egyptian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release the prominent Egyptian-British blogger, writer and human rights activist Aala Abdel Fattah who will have completed his unjust five-year prison sentence in three days’ time (29 September), said Amnesty International today. 

In reprisal for his activism, the Egyptian authorities arrested Alaa Abdel Fattah on 29 September 2019, and subsequently - following a grossly unfair trial - sentenced him to five years in prison on charges that included “spreading false news”. 

Amnesty is warning that there is a risk that the authorities will refuse to release the prominent political activist despite his having served the full five years in prison, by refusing to count time spent in pre-trial detention as part of his prison sentence already served. The authorities may also seek to extend his arbitrary detention by bringing fresh charges against him. The Egyptian authorities have a track record of indefinitely detaining people imprisoned for political reasons by bringing new bogus identical or similar charges, even after a court has ordered their release or they’ve completed their sentence - a highly abusive practice known as “rotation”. 

For years, Abdel Fattah was detained in deplorable conditions and security officials subjected him to torture and other ill-treatment in custody. In May 2022, following a public outcry, he was transferred to Wadi al-Natroun Prison where his health and detention conditions improved. It was only recently that the authorities finally allowed him access to reading materials, as well as television and written correspondence. 

However, the prison authorities have continued to deny him access to fresh air and sunlight for the past five years, only allowing him to exercise in an indoor hall. The authorities also continue to deny him access to his lawyer as well as to consular visits from the UK authorities. 

Mahmoud Shalaby, Amnesty International’s Egypt Researcher, said:

 “Alaa Abdel Fattah has spent most of the last decade being repeatedly arrested and unjustly imprisoned simply for peacefully exercising his human rights.

“He is a prisoner of conscience - he should never have been forced to spend a single minute behind bars. 

“Egyptian authorities have a dreadful track record of indefinitely detaining political dissidents by concocting new reasons to keep them locked up. 

“The prospect that the authorities could further extend his unlawful imprisonment instead of releasing him is appalling.

“If the authorities fail to release Alaa Abdel Fattah this would further compound the cruelty and injustice he has already suffered in custody. 

“The Egyptian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release him and allow him to reunite with his loved ones at long last.” 

Jailed for ‘spreading false news’ 

On 20 December 2021, an Emergency State Security Court convicted Alaa Abdel Fattah on charges which included “spreading false news” and sentenced him to five years in prison following a grossly unfair trial in reprisal for his activism. Human rights lawyer Mohamed Baker and blogger Mohamed Radwan “Oxygen” were also convicted on similar charges, and sentenced to four years in prison. On 19 July 2023, following sustained campaigning for his release, Mohamed Baker received a presidential pardon after nearly four years of arbitrary detention. Abdel Fattah is a prominent political activist and government critic who has been repeatedly targeted for his role in the country’s 2011 uprising. He is among thousands of people who continue to be arbitrarily detained without legal basis in Egypt solely for exercising their human rights. The Egyptian authorities continued to carry out arrests of actual or perceived critics as part of an unrelenting crackdown on dissent.

Long-running UK campaign

Alaa Abdel Fattah is a UK national and his family have mounted a long-running campaign - supported by Amnesty - calling on the UK government to help secure his freedom. In June, the family marked Father’s Day by unfurling a giant banner down the side of Brighton Pier to draw attention to Abdel Fattah’s links to Brighton, the city in which his young son lives. In October and November 2022, Abdel Fattah’s family staged various protests outside the Foreign Office and Downing Street to highlight the fact that Alaa was conducting a lengthy hunger strike in prison in the lead-up to the COP27 climate change summit in Egypt. Amnesty has been calling on the UK government to develop a coherent strategy for how it acts over cases where UK nationals such as Abdel Fattah are arbitrarily detained overseas. Amnesty believes the new strategy should include, as a minimum, the Government calling for an arbitrarily-detained person’s immediate release (including publicly where requested by the family), pressing for access to a lawyer, a fair trial and medical care where relevant, demanding consular access, insisting that UK officials be able to attend trials, and regularly meeting with family members to outline the Government’s overall approach in the case.

Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive, said: 

“Alaa’s a courageous democracy activist who should never have spent a single day behind bars never mind five years, and the UK government should pull out all the stops to ensure Alaa walks free this Sunday and is guaranteed safe passage to the UK.

“The family have campaigned long and hard on Alaa’s case and we share their frustration that the previous Government has appeared to ‘coast’ for long periods over his case rather than exerting sustained diplomatic pressure on his behalf. 

“The UK government must press hard for Alaa’s release on Sunday and see this as an opportunity to turn a corner on how it deals with the cases of British nationals arbitrarily detained overseas.”