Rishi Sunak has pledged to fight for the release of a UK citizen who has started a water strike in jail in Egypt, saying it is “a priority for the British government” that he be freed.
Mr Sunak is travelling to the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh on Sunday to attend Cop27, in his first major international visit as premier.
There he said he will meet the Egyptian president and raise the case of Alaa Abdel-Fattah, a British-Egyptian writer and software developer who rights groups say is unlawfully detained for his activism.
Writing to Mr Abdel-Fattah’s sisters over the weekend, Mr Sunak acknowledged the family was going through “an extremely painful time” and said the government was “totally committed to resolving [their] brother’s case”.
The 40-year-old father-of-one has spent most of the last decade behind bars in Egypt and is currently serving his latest five-year sentence for sharing a Facebook post criticising prison conditions.
He has been on a partial hunger strike for half a year, which he escalated last week to zero calories per day.
On Sunday as the UN climate summit opened, Mr Abdel-Fattah also started a water strike igniting fears he may die as world leaders including the British prime minister descended were on the country meeting their Egyptian counterparts.“
Ministers and officials continue to press for urgent consular access to Alaa as well as calling for his release at the highest levels of the Egyptian government,” Mr Sunak wrote in a letter addressed to Mr Abdel-Fattah’s younger sister Sanaa Seif.
Ms Seif has flown to Egypt herself to attend COP27 and to raise her brother’s case.
“I will continue to stress to President Sisi the importance that we attach to the swift resolution of Alaa’s case and an end to this unacceptable treatment,” the prime minister added.
“I would like to… reassure you that the government is deeply committed to doing everything we can to resolve Alaa’s case as soon as possible,” he said.
Mr Abdel-Fattah rose to international prominence in 2011 as one of the most recognisable faces of the Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt.
However, he has spent most of the last ten years in jail because of his activism, and is currently serving a five-year term on charges of spreading false news after sharing a criticial Facebook post.
His case has ignited global uproar. Prominent figures, including Greta Thunberg, 15 Nobel Laureates such as this year’s Nobel Prize Literature winner Annie Ernaux and celebrities including Emma Thompson, have all called for his freedom.
Dozens of members of parliament and peers have also written to the government demanding they urgently work on his freedom.His family have warned he will die next week if the British authorities do not intervene.
“‘Unless Rishi Sunak comes back from COP27 with my brother alive, Alaa won’t make it out of Egypt except in a coffin,” Mona Seif, Mr Abdel-Fattah’s sister told LBC radio on Sunday morning.
Sanaa Seif, meanwhile, told Sky News that she hopes that Mr Sunak does not just pay “lip service” and follows through with his promises.
“It will be his first trip and so it’s a challenge but I hope the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak understands the urgency,” she said.
Egypt has been heavily criticised for having a terrible rights record after President Abdel-Fattah Sisi, the country’s ex-army chief, stormed to power in 2014 following the military overthrow of his predecessor.
Since then rights groups say hundreds of protesters have been killed and tens of thousands arrested as the authorities have effectively banned free speech.
Egypt has repeatedly denied committing human rights abuses against critics of the regime and maintains that conditions in its prisons meet international standards.
This week both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, warned that repression has only worsened in the lead up to Cop27.
Egypt has arrested dozens of people for calling for protests ahead of the summit while the authorities have also restricted the right to rallies.
“It is becoming clear that Egypt’s government has no intention of easing its abusive security measures and allowing for free speech and assembly,” said Adam Coogle, HRW’s deputy Middle East and North Africa director.
“Egyptian authorities should not be extending its human rights crackdown into the summit space,” he added.
Philip Luther, Amnesty’s MENA director, said that at least 151 detainees are currently being investigated after being arrested ahead of the summit.‘
World leaders arriving in Sharm El-Sheikh must not be fooled by Egypt’s PR campaign’ Luther added.
Mr Abdel-Fattah said in a letter written from jail last week that he will drink his last glass of water on Sunday.
In that letter he added he was taking the decision as “my struggle for my freedom and the freedom of prisons of conflict they’ve no part in… for the victims of a regime that’s unable to handle its crises except with oppression”.
His case has been repeatedly raised by British members of parliament.
Senior Tory David Jones MP, a supporter of the campaign, said this week that he hoped that the prime minister would “take the opportunity to put all possible pressure on the Egyptians to release Alaa back to his family.”
Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy has also called on the government to increase its efforts to secure Abd el-Fattah’s release, saying: “This is now gravely urgent. Alaa is a British citizen.
“Rishi Sunak must use his visit to Cop27 in Egypt to bring Alaa home to his family.”
