100 MPs and lords signal letter calling for motion to free jailed British-Egyptian
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letter signed by greater than 100 MPs and lords is to be submitted to Foreign Secretary James Cleverly calling for recent motion to assist free pro-democracy activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, who has been incarcerated in Egypt for many of the previous decade.
The mom of the 40-year-old British-Egyptian author, mathematician Laila Soueif, will lead a vigil held by Amnesty International UK because the letter is introduced to the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) on Monday.
High profile politicians together with Sir Peter Bottomley, Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Lord Chris Patten are among the many signatories of the petition which requires the UK to guide on a joint assertion on the UN Human Rights Council and to replace the FCDO’s journey recommendation for British guests to Egypt.
Mr Abd El-Fattah is presently serving a five-year sentence on prices of disseminating false news for retweeting a report in 2019 that one other prisoner had died in custody.
He has been finishing up starvation strikes whereas in custody which he intensified on the time of the Cop27 summit in Sharm el-Sheik in November 2022, throughout which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak raised his case with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
In the letter to Mr Cleverly, the supporters of the Free Alaa marketing campaign state: “We are writing to express our concern at the lack of progress on the case of Alaa Abd el-Fattah, six months on from the Prime Minister’s meeting with President Sisi in Sharm el-Sheikh.
“As a result, we are asking you to take the lead on a joint statement on Egypt at the UN Human Rights Council, and to update the UK’s travel advice for the country.
“You are of course aware that while the two leaders were meeting, Alaa was perilously close to death, collapsing just days later.
“Since he chose to end his hunger and water strike, he has remained imprisoned in his cell and has still not received a single visit from a consular official, despite repeated commitments to Alaa’s family from British ministers and officials that they are doing everything they can.
“Private lobbying of the Egyptian government, even at the highest levels, is yet to deliver results.
“This calls for fresh approaches that draw on traditional British strengths of international diplomacy. The Human Rights Council presents a key opportunity for the UK to lead on a joint statement.”
The letter additionally calls on the UK journey recommendation to observe that given by the US which warns that overseas nationals are usually not shielded from “prolonged interrogations and extended detention” and its embassy is just not all the time saved knowledgeable of their circumstances.
The protest on Monday has been timed to mark the tenth anniversary of President El-Sisi’s navy coup in Egypt throughout which era Mr Abd El-Fattah has been imprisoned for all however a couple of months.
His supporters additionally spotlight that it has been 18 months for the reason that British embassy in Cairo has been given entry to him in jail.