UN panel rules Alaa Abd el-Fattah's detention illegal under international law
A UN panel of independent human rights experts has found that the continued detention of British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah is illegal under international law, and has demanded his immediate release.
In a landmark ruling, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) concluded that Abd el-Fattah is being held arbitrarily by the Egyptian authorities and should therefore be released immediately under international law.
Abd el-Fattah, a key figure in the 2011 Egyptian revolution that ousted then-president Hosni Mubarak, has spent the best part of a decade behind bars.
On 29 September, Abd el-Fattah was due to complete a five-year sentence for 'spreading false news', but the authorities failed to release him, refusing to count the two years he spent in pre-trial detention towards his sentence.
UNWGAD found that Abd el-Fattah's continued imprisonment is illegal on several grounds, including the lack of a warrant at the time of his arrest and lack of explanation of the reasons for his arrest.
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Additionally, it cited the fact that he was arrested for exercising his freedom of expression, and the discriminatory nature of his detention, which was based on his political views, as violations of his fundamental rights and freedoms under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The working group demanded that the Egyptian authorities 'take the steps necessary to remedy the situation of Mr Abd el-Fattah without delay', which they said should include his immediate release and the payment of compensation.
The panel has set a six month deadline for the Egyptian authorities to release Abd el-Fattah and investigate the violations of his rights. It further demanded that the Egyptian government implement legislative amendments to ensure the country's laws conform to its international obligations.
Cannot be allowed to stand
Abd el-Fattah's cousin and lead campaigner Omar Hamilton said that the ruling is grounds for the UK government to take Egypt to the International Court of Justice for breach of the Vienna Convention.
'For too long now the Egyptian regime has withheld access to a British citizen that they are holding illegally and it cannot be allowed to stand,' he said in a statement.
The UNWGAD ruling comes days after a second call between UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, in which Starmer 'pressed for the urgent release of British national Alaa Abd El-Fattah so that he can be reunited with his family'.
Egypt prison deaths a 'warning sign' as conditions deteriorate sharply Read More »
Starmer had previously spoken to Sisi on 28 February, but there has been little movement since then.
On 21 May, Starmer said at Prime Minister's Questions, in response to a question by John McDonnell MP, that he had given Abd El-Fattah's mother, Laila Soueif, his "commitment to do everything I possibly can. I have had a number of contacts myself but I'm not going to stop doing everything within my power to secure release.'
With Soueif in the 241st day of her hunger strike to demand her son's release, the clock is ticking.
Soueif began her strike on 29 September 2024, the date Abd el-Fattah's five-year sentence was due to end, to protest against inaction by the UK and Egyptian authorities to secure his release.
After the phone call between Starmer and Sisi on 28 February, she moved to a partial hunger strike, taking a daily 300-calorie liquid nutritional supplement.
But, with little else shifting over the course of three months, Soueif announced last week that she was resuming her full hunger strike.
Abd el-Fattah began his own hunger strike from Wadi El-Natrun prison 89 days ago. He fell ill with vomiting, severe stomach pains and dizziness on 12 April.
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