{"id":30646,"date":"2022-05-27T12:48:42","date_gmt":"2022-05-27T10:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/afteegypt.org\/?p=30646"},"modified":"2022-05-29T12:49:44","modified_gmt":"2022-05-29T10:49:44","slug":"civil-society-to-the-uk-foreign-office-free-human-rights-defender-alaaabd-el-fattah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/afteegypt.org\/en\/advocacy-en\/joint-statements-en\/2022\/05\/27\/30646-afteegypt.html","title":{"rendered":"Civil society to the UK Foreign Office: Free human rights defender AlaaAbd El-Fattah"},"content":{"rendered":"
To Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom Elizabeth Truss, and the UK Foreign Office<\/strong><\/p>\n 27 May, 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n British-Egyptian activist, blogger, and software developer\u00a0AlaaAbd El-Fattah<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 locked up in Egypt to silence his activism \u2014 faces the risk of death\u00a0unless the United Kingdom Foreign Office immediately intervenes for his protection<\/strong>. At the time of writing,\u00a027 May 2022,<\/strong>\u00a0Alaa has entered\u00a0day 56<\/strong>\u00a0of his\u00a0hunger strike<\/a>\u00a0in protest of the horrific conditions of his imprisonment. His health is rapidly and significantly deteriorating.<\/p>\n On 12 May, 2022,\u00a0Alaa\u2019s family<\/a>\u00a0reported that he was\u00a0physically assaulted<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0in prison. On 18 May, 2022,\u00a010 Members of Parliament and 17 Members of the House of Lords<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0urged<\/strong>\u00a0Secretary of State Elizabeth Truss and the UK government to act immediately to secure the activist\u2019s release. On the same day, without informing his family, Alaa was transferred\u00a0to the new\u00a0<\/a>Wadi el-Natrun prison complex. On 19 May, 2022, Alaa\u2019s sister, Mona Seif,\u00a0confirmed<\/a>\u00a0that after the move, her brother \u201cslept on a mattress for the first time in years<\/strong>\u201d. On 26 May, 2022, Alaa\u2019s family\u00a0confirmed<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0that he received his first books and writing materials in years.<\/p>\n Alaa, now a British-Egyptian dual national, has yet to receive a UK consular visit, has been denied the ability to communicate with his UK lawyers, and is still asking for a judge to investigate the complaints he and his family have filed over his unjust detention. We, the undersigned organisations, urgently call on the\u00a0UK Foreign Office<\/strong>\u00a0to\u00a0secure Alaa\u2019s release and safe transfer to the UK<\/strong>\u00a0as well as the following:<\/p>\n Alaa has been jailed or charged under every Egyptian government in his lifetime, spending more than 3,000 days behind bars since 2011. He has been unjustly sentenced on unsubstantiated charges which include \u201cspreading false news<\/a>\u201d, \u201cundermining national security<\/a>\u201c, \u201cusing social media to commit a publishing offence<\/a>\u201c, and \u201cbelonging to a terrorist group<\/a>\u201d, and has been\u00a0arbitrarily detained<\/a>\u00a0since 2019.<\/p>\n In September 2021, authorities refused to release Alaa even after he surpassed the two-year limit for imprisonment without trial under Egyptian law. Until this point, Alaa\u00a0had not been informed<\/a>\u00a0why he was arrested. \u201cThe prosecution hasn\u2019t questioned me about anything in my case for 23 months. And after 23 months, I find out that I am being accused of sharing a news item\u201d, explained Alaa.\u00a0 Following a trial marred by flagrant\u00a0fair trial and due process violations<\/a>, on\u00a020 December, 2021<\/a>, Alaa was sentenced to five years in prison. Human rights lawyer Mohamed El Baqer and blogger Mohamed \u201cOxygen\u201d Ibrahim were sentenced alongside him to four years each. In addition, the more than two years that Alaa spent in pre-trial detention did not count toward his current five-year jail sentence meaning that Alaa\u2019s prison sentence will not end until 3 January, 2027.<\/p>\n As a visionary, Alaa was among the first to recognise the\u00a0power of technology<\/a>\u00a0in uniting and mobilising people against\u00a0unjust and oppressive states<\/a>. He was consistently working towards connecting\u00a0technologists across the region<\/a>. After the 2011 uprisings in Egypt, Alaa managed to gather Egyptian Twitter users in what was known then as \u201cTweet Nadwa<\/a>\u201d where they would discuss political issues and use Twitter as a tool to update those who were not able to attend in person. Alaa\u2019s imprisonment is an attempt by the Egyptian government to silence a dissenting voice and discourage those inspired by him.<\/p>\n When the UK granted Alaa citizenship in April, it took responsibility for upholding his rights. The life and fate of AlaaAbd El-Fattah is at stake, and the UK Foreign Office must\u00a0act now to save his life<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Organisations<\/strong><\/p>\n To Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom Elizabeth Truss, and the UK Foreign Office 27 May, 2022 British-Egyptian activist, blogger, and software developer\u00a0AlaaAbd El-Fattah\u00a0\u2014 locked up in Egypt to silence his activism \u2014 faces the risk of death\u00a0unless the United Kingdom Foreign Office immediately intervenes for his protection. 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