UK – The Times, November 04, 2024
The primary duty of any government is to protect its citizens, wherever they are. Why, then, is it proving so hard for ministers to secure the release of Alaa Abd El-Fattah, the British-Egyptian pro-democracy activist who has spent most of the past decade rotting in Egypt’s jails?
Abd El-Fattah was rearrested in 2019, held without trial for two years, and then sentenced in December 2021 to a further five years for spreading “false news undermining national security” after he shared a social media post about torture. He was due for release in September but remains behind bars because the authorities — in defiance of international legal norms — refuse to acknowledge the time he spent in pre-trial custody. Who can blame his family for suspecting the regime would like him to die in jail?
His mother, Laila Soueif, began a hunger strike last month, lamenting that she had tried “all other forms of protest”. She expressed frustration with David Lammy, the foreign secretary, who in opposition publicly championed the campaign to free her son. He posed for photographs with the activist’s family during a protest outside the Foreign Office and is on record calling for Egypt to face “serious consequences” over its stance.
