British-Egyptian Activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah to Be Freed from Prison

THE GUARDIAN: Reports say writer, who has served six years for liking a Facebook post, has also been given a presidential pardon

The British-Egyptian human rights activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah will be released from jail after serving six years for liking a Facebook post, Egyptian state media have reported.

Egypt’s president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, granted him his freedom after intensive lobbying by the UK government and pressure from Egypt’s national human rights council.

The UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, is known to have telephoned Sisi three times to lobby for Abd el-Fattah’s release. His national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, also called for his release as did the former foreign secretary David Lammy. It appears a growing warmth in British-Egyptian official relations – including over how to handle the Palestine question – may have played a role in the president’s decision.

Abd el-Fattah’s 69-year-old mother, Laila Soueif, has been admitted to hospital in London twice after going on hunger strikes to try to secure his release. The prominent activist and maths professor also held vigils outside the Foreign Office and Downing Street, saying she was prepared to die to achieve her son’s release. » | Patrick Wintour, Diplomatic editor | Monday, September 22, 2025

"A Near-death Experience": UK-Egyptian Activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah Nearly Dies on Hunger Strike

Nov 18, 2022 | The family of imprisoned British Egyptian human rights activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah visited him on Thursday for the first time since he ended his full hunger and water strike, which they say occurred after he collapsed inside his prison shower last week. El-Fattah had intensified his strike on the first day of the U.N. climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh to draw international attention to the country's human rights violations and protest his seemingly indefinite imprisonment. We go to Cairo to speak with his aunt, Ahdaf Soueif, who was among the visitors and says El-Fattah may resume his hunger strike if the British government does not more aggressively demand his release. "It really breaks my heart to think of him going back on hunger strike when he is so thin and so weak," but the campaign so far "has left no one in any doubt that Alaa should be free," she says.

World leaders at Cop27 Urged to Press Egypt over Prisoner Alaa Abd el-Fattah

THE GUARDIAN: Global spotlight on host country has heightened scrutiny of human rights record, with Biden due to meet Sisi

An Amnesty International protest about Egyptian human rights, in Rome this week. Photograph: Riccardo Antimiani/Ansa/Zuma/Rex/Shutterstock
As Egyptian officials strive to control the narrative and isolate the case of the detained British Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, pressure is mounting on world leaders at Cop27 to acknowledge Egypt’s poor human rights record and raise his case.

The Egyptian authorities have engaged in a sweeping public relations campaign to try to discredit Abd el-Fattah, including a digital campaign depicting him as a threat to national security.

A visibly shaken Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s foreign minister and Cop27 president, told CNN that “this is a judicial matter, the person in question has had a fair trial … there should be respect for the judicial system.” Shoukry also cast doubt on Abd el-Fattah’s dual nationality, after he gained British citizenship while in prison last year. » | Ruth Michaelson | Friday, November 11, 2022

Related articles in French and English here.