Latest news with #AlaaAbdel-Fattah
DW
05-06-2025
- Politics
- DW
#FreeAlaa: Will hunger strikes release Alaa Abdel-Fattah? – DW – 06/05/2025
A new UN report, the UK and human rights organizations call for the release of Egypt's most prominent detainee. After around 250 days of hunger strike, Alaa Abdel-Fattah's mother is in a life-threatening condition. Calls for the release of the 43-year-old Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah are gaining momentum again. This week, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, or UNWGAD, stated that Abdel-Fattah's continued imprisonment in Egypt is illegal. Following an 18-month investigation, the group argued that no warrant or explanation was present at the time of the arrest, and that Abdel-Fattah was imprisoned for exercising his freedom of expression — a legal right in Egypt. The report concludes with the call on the Egyptian government "to take the steps necessary to remedy the situation without delay…to release Abdel-Fattah immediately and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law." Cairo is yet to comment on the ruling, but for Abdel-Fattah's family, who is based in London, the report comes "at an important moment," Omar Hamilton, Abdel-Fattah's cousin, told DW. Abdel-Fattah's mother, Leila Soueif, has been on hunger strike in support of her son's release for around 250 days. This week, the health of the 69-year-old British citizen deteriorated massively. "Our family is in the hospital every day," Hamilton told DW. "While we're doing what we can to keep her as comfortable as possible, she is mentally very strong and very determined." Last week, Leila Soueif was admitted to hospital in London after reaching life-threateningly low blood sugar levels Image: #FreeAlaa Last week, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ramped up his support as well. Starmer phoned Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi for the second time this year to discuss the situation of Alaa Abdel-Fattah who has been a British citizen since 2022. Starmer called for clemency and said that the Egyptian government was causing the family great anguish. Neither further details, nor the Egyptian reaction were published. According to the British newspaper The Guardian, a diplomatic source said that Egypt doesn't recognize Abdel-Fattah's dual citizenship. The activist has been imprisoned for around a decade. In 2015, he was sentenced to five years for participating in a 2013 protest. In September 2019, he was rearrested during a widespread crackdown on political dissent. and handed a five-year sentence for "spreading false news" in December 2021. Instead of releasing him in September 2024 at the end of his sentence if you count his pretrial detention, authorities ordered to keep him in prison until January 3, 2027. They argued that the two years he spent in pretrial detention are not to be counted toward his sentence, even though the time span exceeded Egypt's legal pretrial length. Abdel-Fattah has also started a hunger strike himself some 100 days ago. 'Time is running out' for activist's mother In addition to the latest report by the UN and the support by Starmer, scores of human rights organizations, too, have restarted campaigning for Abdel-Fattah's release, on social media at #FreeAlaa and politically. Earlier this week, 21 rights organizations, including English PEN and Human Rights Watch, sent ajoint letter to Egyptian President el-Sissi. One of the signatories, Yasmine Ahmed, UK Director at Human Rights Watch, told DW that "time is running out." "The prominent writer and activist has been detained in Egypt unlawfully for over a decade as his mother Leila faces an imminent risk of death in a hospital in London," she said. "The UK government must use every point of political and diplomatic leverage they have to push Egypt to release the British citizen Alaa Abdel-Fattah." While Abdel-Fattah may be the most prominent political prisoner in Egypt, he is far from the only one. Rights organizations estimate that between 65,000 and 70,000 political prisoners are kept behind bars. Officially, though, Egypt has never stated a number and ranks most of these prisoners as "terrorists." Meanwhile, the latest report by Egypt's National Council for Human Rights, which was installed in 2003 to further Egypt's national human rights strategy, stated "notable progress " on civil and political rights for the period of June 2023 to June 2024. "Nevertheless, several human rights issues persist and require intensified efforts and expedited action to overcome the associated challenges," the report states. Egypt's National Council on Human Rights admitted that rights issues persist under President el-Sisi's rule Image: Hadi Mizban/REUTERS Dire rights situation in Egypt For Christian Achrainer, a researcher at Denmark's Roskilde University who has extensively published on Egypt, these words of progress and calls for intensified efforts sound hollow. "The human rights situation in Egypt has not changed much, it is still very bad," he told DW. In his view, none of the governmental bodies that are tasked with improving the country's human rights situation have had a positive impact. "Slightly positive developments have been counteracted by other measures," Achrainer said. "Some political prisoners were released, while others were re-arrested." "In general, freedom of press and freedom of expression remain extremely restricted, and people continue to be imprisoned for expressing their opinions," Achrainer said. Egypt's political leverage Despite increasing international attention and calls for Abdel-Fattah's release, Egypt "is not impressed," Achrainer observes. "Cairo is fundamentally aware of its very good negotiating position with Europe at the moment," he explained. "The multi-billion Euro migration deal in 2024 clearly shows that Europe is prepared to look the other way on human rights issues if Egypt ensures that fewer refugees and migrants come to Europe." Also, Cairo's contacts with all parties to the conflict in Gaza, the fight against terrorism, economic interests and the potential role in conflict-ridden neighboring countries like Libya and Sudan boost Egypt's position as key player in the region. "All of this means that the regime knows that it is not forced to act in the case of [Abdel-Fattah] or in the area of human rights in general," Achrainer said. Leila Soueif's determination to continue her hunger strike until Alaa Abdel-Fattah is released remains undeterred, her nephew Omar Hamilton told DW. Image: Vuk Valcic/Zuma/picture alliance 'All political prisoners should be freed' Despite this dire rights situation, Egyptians have been submitting petitions and official telegrams to the presidency with their name and address on it asking for Abdel-Fattah's release, Omar Hamilton told DW. "And people all around the world hold vigils and protests," he added. Since Leila Soueif has been hospitalized last Thursday, Abdel-Fattah's family and supporters also gather daily in front of St Thomas' hospital in London. "There's an incredible amount of energy pouring in from around the world," Hamilton said. "And not only us, but all people believe that Alaa should be freed, actually that all the political prisoners should be freed." Abdel Fattah is one of many: Human rights activist Hossam Baghat To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Edited by: Carla Bleiker
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Egypt illegally detaining Alaa Abd el-Fattah, UN investigators find
The British-Egyptian human rights activist and writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah is being illegally detained by the Egyptian government, an independent UN panel has found after an 18-month investigation. He is being held in a Cairo jail while his mother, Laila Soueif, based in Britain, is on hunger strike. She is holding a daily one-hour vigil outside Downing Street, the limit her health and weight loss allows. She is on day 241 of the hunger strike, and her body weight has halved. Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, last week called for a second time for the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, to show clemency, saying the Egyptian government was causing the family great anguish. In a report released to the family, the UN working group on arbitrary detention also asked the Egyptian government 'to take the steps necessary to remedy the situation without delay', adding 'the appropriate remedy would be to release Abd el-Fattah immediately and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law'. Unusually, the Egyptian government mounted a full defence of its actions to the UN panel. The UN group gave a withering verdict on the standards of justice in Egypt, including the suppression of free speech. It concluded that the activist's continued imprisonment was arbitrary and illegal owing to the absence of a warrant at the time of his arrest and the lack of explanation of reasons for his arrest or the allegations against him. It found Fattah was arrested for exercising his freedom of expression, not afforded a fair trial, and was detained based on his political views. Egypt is not obliged to comply with the report, but its findings add to the damage being done to the country's reputation by continuing to detain one of it most prominent writers. Fattah was arrested in September 2019, and was finally sentenced in December 2021 to five years in jail for spreading false news and harming Egypt's national interest. The UN panel found the allegation stemmed from Fattah sharing a Facebook post about the death of a prison inmate. Fattah's English barrister, Can Yeğinsu, said: 'The UN working group has delivered a clear and unequivocal decision: Alaa Abd el-Fattah's detention is arbitrary and in breach of international law. Egypt is now obligated to release Alaa immediately.' Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian held in a Tehran jail for five years, said: 'Having a ruling from the working group of arbitrary detention is a club no family wants to belong to. You worry repeatedly about whether to file, and then the UN system is so slow, so you can wait for years. Then when it comes, it is a moment of clarity – an acknowledgment of the injustice under international law. 'The crime is not Alaa's; the criminals are those still holding him, and provoking his family to desperation. For our family, our WGAD ruling was also a relief: we thought it would mark an end to the UK government's prevarication, and the beginning of firm action on Nazanin's case. In the end, it did. 'But for Alaa's family, time is so much shorter. The ruling needs to be implemented now. The law is clear, but so is the heavy cost of continuing to ignore it.' Fattah's cousin Omar Robert Hamilton urged the UK to take Egypt to the international court of justice over the detention. The working group in its report said the use of excessively broad and vague concepts such as 'dissemination of false information' were incompatible with international standards of freedom of expression and should be abolished. It also suggested it was a crime against humanity to use 'rotation sentencing', whereby the prosecution changes the original charge so that the defendant's period in pre-trial custody is not counted as part of the sentence.
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
UK 'deeply concerned' about jailed Egyptian-British dissident's hunger-striking mother
LONDON (Reuters) -The British government said on Tuesday it was "deeply concerned" about the health of the mother of jailed Egyptian-British dissident Alaa Abd el-Fattah, Laila Soueif, who has been admitted to hospital while continuing a hunger strike. Soueif, 69, a mathematics professor from a family of prominent activists and intellectuals, was taken to a London hospital last week and has said she is prepared to die to help secure the release of her son from prison. A spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the government was worried about Soueif's health and continues to urge the Egyptian government to release her son. "We are deeply concerned by Laila's hospitalisation and remain in regular contact with her family regarding her welfare," Starmer's spokesman told reporters. The Egyptian embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Abd el-Fattah, a software developer and blogger who rose to prominence as an activist in the 2011 Arab Spring, was jailed for five years in Egypt in 2021 over a social media post, a sentence that followed several previous spells in prison, including before and after the uprising. Starmer's spokesman said the British foreign secretary David Lammy spoke to his Egyptian counterpart on Sunday and urged him to release Abd el-Fattah. "The government is absolutely committed to Alaa Abd el-Fattah's release," he said. "Further engagement at the highest levels of the Egyptian government continues." Abd el-Fattah was sentenced to five years in prison in 2021 on charges of spreading fake news, for sharing a social media post about the death of a prisoner. The accusation is commonly levelled at critics of the government and activists who post on social media.
Straits Times
03-06-2025
- General
- Straits Times
UK 'deeply concerned' about jailed Egyptian-British dissident's hunger-striking mother
FILE PHOTO: Laila Soueif, mother of jailed Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, poses for a portrait during a hunger strike to protest against her son's detention in Egypt, outside Downing Street in London, Britain, January 20, 2025. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes/File Photo LONDON - The British government said on Tuesday it was "deeply concerned" about the health of the mother of jailed Egyptian-British dissident Alaa Abd el-Fattah, Laila Soueif, who has been admitted to hospital while continuing a hunger strike. Soueif, 69, a mathematics professor from a family of prominent activists and intellectuals, was taken to a London hospital last week and has said she is prepared to die to help secure the release of her son from prison. A spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the government was worried about Soueif's health and continues to urge the Egyptian government to release her son. "We are deeply concerned by Laila's hospitalisation and remain in regular contact with her family regarding her welfare," Starmer's spokesman told reporters. The Egyptian embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Abd el-Fattah, a software developer and blogger who rose to prominence as an activist in the 2011 Arab Spring, was jailed for five years in Egypt in 2021 over a social media post, a sentence that followed several previous spells in prison, including before and after the uprising. Starmer's spokesman said the British foreign secretary David Lammy spoke to his Egyptian counterpart on Sunday and urged him to release Abd el-Fattah. "The government is absolutely committed to Alaa Abd el-Fattah's release," he said. "Further engagement at the highest levels of the Egyptian government continues." Abd el-Fattah was sentenced to five years in prison in 2021 on charges of spreading fake news, for sharing a social media post about the death of a prisoner. The accusation is commonly levelled at critics of the government and activists who post on social media. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Roya News
02-06-2025
- Health
- Roya News
Mother of jailed Egyptian activist on brink of death in hunger-strike protest
Laila Soueif, the mother of prominent British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, is facing a life-threatening medical emergency after more than eight months on hunger strike, according to her doctors. The 69-year-old academic began refusing food in protest of her son's continued imprisonment in Egypt, but her condition has now deteriorated to the point where 'sudden death' is a real and immediate risk. Doctors treating Soueif warned Friday that her blood sugar levels had dropped below 0.6 mmol/L—a threshold so low it is nearly impossible to measure. Her ketone levels, used to detect blood acidity, have soared past 7 mmol/L, indicating advanced acidosis. Without urgent medical intervention, physicians say she could suffer irreversible damage to her heart, brain, or kidneys, or lose consciousness entirely. Soueif has lost 36kg since beginning her protest, now weighing just 49kg. 'Her body's carbohydrate stores are essentially depleted,' her doctor explained. 'She's surviving on the final reserves of fat. This is not typically compatible with consciousness.' Her son, Alaa Abd el-Fattah, has long been a symbol of Egypt's pro-democracy movement. A central figure in the 2011 revolution that brought down President Hosni Mubarak, he has spent most of the past decade in prison. In September 2024, he completed a five-year sentence for 'spreading false news,' but Egyptian authorities refused to release him, arguing that his pre-trial detention should not count toward the sentence. Soueif, who had been surviving on a minimal intake of 300 calories a day since February, announced on May 20 that she would stop eating entirely. Her family says she is now on the edge. 'Bottom line is we're losing her… there is no time,' her daughter Sanaa Seif told reporters outside St Thomas's Hospital in London. 'Keir Starmer needs to act now. Not tomorrow, not Monday. Now. Right now.' British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has previously said he is personally committed to securing Abd el-Fattah's release and reportedly raised the case with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in a February call. But activists say progress has stalled. Meanwhile, Abd el-Fattah himself is now on day 92 of his own hunger strike from Wadi El-Natrun prison. He reportedly fell seriously ill in April, suffering from vomiting, extreme stomach pain, and dizziness.
