Dozens of British parliamentarians on Monday called on the government to be swift in securing the release of detained Egyptian-British, Alaa Abdel Fattah, who has been in detention for more than three years.
As contained in a Letter to be submitted to the Foreign Affairs Minister, James Cleverly, the parliamentarians expressed their “concern at the lack of progress”, despite the meeting last November between Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, on the sidelines of COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh.
While expressing dissatisfaction on the failure of any representative visiting Alaa Abdel Fattah in prison, they called on the government to act at the UN Human Rights Council level to try to get Cairo to move on this issue and ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to update its advice to British travellers in the country.
Alaa Abdel Fattah was arrested at the end of 2019 and sentenced to five years in prison for “false information” after reposting on Facebook a text, written by another, accusing an officer of torture.
The 42 year old had earlier gone on a hunger strike, which he had began seven months earlier. However, he resumed eating soon later, having failed to get the attention of the Egyptian government.