‘I’ve been on hunger strike for over 100 days because I cannot allow my son to continue languishing in prison’ - Laila Souief

‘The Foreign Secretary has said Alaa’s case is a “number one” issue for his department - he can prove that by visiting Alaa in jail during his trip to Egypt this week’ – Sacha Deshmukh

In a letter to David Lammy, the family of Alaa Abdel Fattah and 13 campaign organisations have called on the Foreign Secretary to visit Abdel Fattah in jail during his trip to Egypt later this week as part of ramped-up efforts to secure the activist’s release.

Abdel Fattah, a 43-year-old UK national, is a prominent blogger and writer who’s been in detention in Egypt since September 2019. He has already served a five-year jail sentence on trumped-up charges of “spreading false news” after a grossly unfair trial, yet last year his family were told he wouldn’t be released until January 2027.

Abdel Fattah’s 68-year-old mother Laila Soueif has been on a hunger strike for three-and-a-half months as part of the family’s campaign to push the UK government into doing more to secure the jailed activist’s release.

The letter to Mr Lammy - signed by13 organisations including Amnesty International UK, Human Rights Watch, PEN International and Reporters without Borders - says that Alaa, a British citizen, has spent most of the past decade in prison in Egypt and is a key concern for our organisations. Despite having completed his unjust and arbitrary five-year sentence on 29 September 2024, the Egyptian authorities have refused to release him, ignoring his time served in pre-trial detention. This situation violates both international legal norms and Egyptian law.   

The organisations are calling for the Foreign Secretary ahead of his upcoming visit to Egypt to raise Alaa’s case at every opportunity and ensure his safe return to the UK. Alaa must be a priority and at the forefront of all discussions with Egyptian officials to secure his release as quickly as possible.  

Laila Souief, Alaa Abdel Fattah’s mother, said:

“I’ve been on hunger strike for over 100 days because I cannot allow my son to continue languishing in prison.

“Enough is enough, my son’s life should not be ignored. Alaa is a prisoner of conscience - he should never have been forced to spend a single minute behind bars.

“I strongly urge the Foreign Secretary to persuade President Sisi to release my son. We know from how the Egyptian regime works that if he doesn’t get out now, he will never get out.

“Alaa has been unjustly prisoned longer than necessary and it’s time for his release.”

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

“The Foreign Secretary has said Alaa’s case is a ‘number one’ issue for his department - he can prove that by visiting Alaa in jail during his trip to Egypt this week.

“There’s still a strong sense that the Government is not yet prioritising Alaa’s case as it should, which seems to be part of a long pattern where successive UK governments have done too little on behalf of UK nationals arbitrarily held overseas.

“Mr Lammy needs to break a pattern of governmental soft-pedalling on cases like Alaa’s.

“A personal visit with Alaa in jail in Cairo would help show that the Government is serious about ending Alaa’s ordeal.

“The Foreign Secretary should make it absolutely clear to his counterparts in the Egyptian government that Alaa needs to be released as a matter urgency and allowed to safely leave the country.”