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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Patrick Wintour

Egypt illegally detaining Alaa Abd el-Fattah, UN investigators find

Activists, including Alaa Abd el-Fattah’s mother, Laila Soueif, holding placards
Activists, including Alaa Abd el-Fattah’s mother, Laila Soueif (centre), protesting outside Downing Street last week. Photograph: Vuk Valcic/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock

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.

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