EXCLUSIVE Dame Judi Dench and Carey Mulligan urge Keir Starmer to free British man who's been trapped in Egypt prison for the past 10 years
Dame Judi Dench and Carey Mulligan have urged the Prime Minister to take stronger action to free a British-Egyptian man who has been trapped inside a Cairo prison for ten years.
Alaa Abd el Fattah, 43, has been imprisoned in Wadi El Natrun prison in Cairo after being arrested for his activist work in support of democracy and human rights in the country.
Mr Abd el Fattah was jailed on terrorism charges in 2019 following a social media post about torture which saw him repost a claim that a fellow prisoner had died. He has been in prison for the best part of the last decade after his arrest in the aftermath of a military coup in 2013.
His family had hoped he would be released at the end of his five-year sentence in September 2024, but unusually, the Egyptian government has kept him incarcerated, refusing to count his time on remand as part of his sentence.
His mother Laila Soueif, 69, has been on hunger strike for 247 days in protest over his continued detention and, speaking from her London hospital bed today, said she is prepared to die to try and get him released.
Ms Soueif is so weak she was rushed to hospital last week but continues to refuse all forms of glucose treatment.
Now leading figures across the entertainment and culture industries have added their signatures to a letter to Sir Keir Starmer urging him 'to take bold, immediate action to save her life and to re-unite Alaa with his family', adding: 'It is almost too late.'
National treasure Dame Judi Dench added her signature to the letter this week, as did actress Carey Mullingon and singer Marcus Mumford, of Mumford and Sons.
Other arts heavyweights to lend their support are actors Brian Cox and Bill Nighy, author Sally Rooney and artist and 2024 Turner Prize winner Jasleen Kaur.
The letter reads: 'We are cultural figures from around the world, watching with dismay as Dr. Laila Soueif risks death to save her son - the writer, Alaa Abd el-Fattah.
'Alaa should never have been imprisoned in the first place. He is an internationally respected writer and a brave advocate for democracy. He has now lost over ten years of his life to the prison cell.
'His most recent prison sentence expired on September 29 2024 - yet he is still behind bars. Laila, his mother, went on hunger strike that day. She will not eat again until her son is free.
'Prime Minister, we are asking you to take bold, immediate action to save her life and to re-unite Alaa with his family. It is almost too late.'
Mr Abd el Fattah's cousin Omar Hamilton told MailOnline: 'There's been such an outpouring of solidarity from around the world for Laila and Alaa - I think it's really what is keeping Laila alive.
'Every message of support is giving her hope and pushing her on. But at the same time the reality is Laila is still in a critical condition in hospital.
'Every time she falls asleep the doctors are worried she'll slip into a coma - so we really don't have long left for the Prime Minister to get this deal done and bring Alaa home to his family.'
The dire warning came as doctors warned over the weekend that Ms Soueif is at 'immediate' risk of unconsciousness and sudden death after her blood sugar dropped to 0.6 mmol/L, as well as irreversible damage to her organs.
But faced with the risks, Ms Soueif is determined to see her son freed before she resumes consuming calories, heartbreakingly telling reporters: 'My message is: use my death as leverage to get Alaa out.'
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to do everything he can to secure Mr Abd el Fattah's release, but his family say he is not doing enough
Notable signatures on letter to PM
Brian Cox (actor) and his wife, Nicole Ansari Cox
Judi Dench (actor)
Gareth Evans (actor)
Joseph Fiennes (actor)
Rebecca Hall (actor)
Jasleen Kaur (artist)
Robert Macfarlane (writer)
Carey Mulligan (actor)
Marcus Mumford (singer)
Bill Nighy (actor)
Sally Rooney (writer)
Burhan Sönmez (writer, head of PEN International)
Morgan Spector (actor)
Adam Thirlwell (writer)
Cat Villiers (film producer)
Emily Watson (actor)
Gary Younge (journalist)
Speaking from her hospital bed on BBC Radio 4 this morning, Ms Soueif commented on the risk she may not survive her strike: 'It's something that I passionately don't want to happen. Children want a mother, not a notorious mother, whether the notoriety is good or bad.
'But if that's what it takes to get Alaa out of jail and to get all my children and grandchildren's life back on track, then that's what I'm going to do.'
During his detention he has regularly been on hunger strike, often joined by his mother Ms Soueif, who has campaigned tirelessly for his release.
Ms Soueif, who has lost 42 percent of her bodyweight and now weighs just 49kg since going on hunger strike in September when her son was not released, has not consumed food for 247 days.
She was admitted to St Thomas' hospital in London in February and received a glucose drip which is thought to have saved her life, and she was discharged after agreeing to consume 300 calories per day.
But she resumed a full hunger strike on May 20 after criticising a lack of progress on freeing her son.
Ms Soueif was hospitalised on Thursday and received glucagon, a hormone used to treat severe hypoglycaemia, as well as intravenous electrolytes.
She has refused glucose treatment and has begun giving her farewells to loved ones, her family says.
Speaking to the BBC, her daughter Sanaa Seif said: 'No-one understands how she's still conscious. It's very scary.
'She's talking to us about life after she's gone. She's started to do her farewells.'
In a press conference outside the hospital on Tuesday, Ms Seif added that her mother's blood sugar was still very low but that she was conscious.
She said: 'She is fighting and I hope the Foreign Office uses this time her body has given us well.'
Ms Seif said she was supposed to have flown to Cairo on Tuesday to see her brother but stayed to be with her mother.
She had received two letters from Mr Abd El-Fattah - one of which was 'very confused and short', saying simply 'Take care of yourself'.
'I am really worried about him,' she said. She also said she wanted to save her mother's life but understands her position 'as a mother'.
Ms Seif said: 'The only reason she cares about staying alive is us. She doesn't want to go on living life like this and I understand that.'
Ms Seif accused the Foreign Office of not working fast enough and claimed no one from the Prime Minister's office had been in touch directly about the state of negotiations for around three weeks.
She said: 'We are going by the hour; they were measuring her vitals by the hour, at some point every 15 minutes. I expressed my frustration how it is insane that they (the Government) are taking weeks. They have not told me they have changed their pace.'
Ms Seif added: 'I imagine that means they don't have much to say.'
She also urged Foreign Secretary David Lammy to follow through on what he said when in opposition and limit the Egyptian ambassador's access to Whitehall.
Conservative former minister Sir John Whittingdale, who is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Today programme Mr Abd El-Fattah was a 'political activist' who had not committed 'any crime that we would recognise'.
He said Mr Lammy was 'outspoken' in opposition but that his action in Government since then 'simply hasn't had an effect'.
Sir John also called on the Foreign Office to change its travel advice for Egypt to warn Britons there is a risk they could 'fall foul of the Egyptian authorities'.
'Egypt gets a huge income from tourism, a lot of that tourism comes from Britain and I think that might well put the pressure on that is obviously needed,' he said.
Mr Abd el Fattah's case has been brought up in the House of Commons several times by MP John McDonnell, and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to do everything he can to put pressure on Egypt to release him.
Starmer spoke with the Egyptian President on February 28 and 'pressed for his release', Downing Street said.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy then also spoke to his counterpart on April 9.
Last month, John McDonnell raised Alaa's case with the Prime Minister at PMQs, with Starmer telling MPs: 'I have met Laila and given her my commitment to do everything I possibly can. I have had a number of contacts myself, but I am not going to stop doing everything within my power to secure release.'
The UN ruled last week that Mr Abd el Fattah had been arrested for exercising his right to freedom of expression and also called for his immediate release.
The family plan to give an update on Ms Soueif's health outside St Thomas' Hospital in London this morning.
They will be joined by UK Parliamentarians including Vice-Chairs of the APPG on Arbitrary Detention and Hostage Affairs Brendan O'Hara MP and Tim Roca MP, as well as John McDonnell MP and Siân Berry MP.
More than 100 Parliamentarians last month signed a letter calling for Starmer to take urgent action over the case.
It gave a worrying glimpse into Ms Soueif's condition: 'We write with mounting concern about the lack of concrete progress on Alaa's case, more than two months after your call with President Sisi.
'Time is in desperately short supply in this case. Alaa has been acutely unwell in prison, experiencing vomiting, stomach pains, dizziness and blurred vision.
'Meanwhile, Laila's health continues to deteriorate. She has not eaten proper food for more than seven months.
'Prime Minister, we remain gravely concerned about the implications for Alaa's family if the path to resolve his case and secure his release cannot be found very soon.
'There is also no doubt in our minds that if the health of Laila or Alaa is further damaged by this ordeal, this would have serious long-term implications for the British-Egyptian bilateral relationship.
'We urge you to deploy every tool at your Government's disposal at this vital stage. We offer our support to your efforts on behalf of Alaa and his family in any way needed.'
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