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A COALITION of human rights organisations have urged Foreign Secretary David Lammy to take a “strong stand” against the arbitrary detention of British pro-democracy activist Alaa Abd Fattah at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC).
Mr Fattah’s 68-year-old mother Laila Soueif has been on hunger strike for more than four months in a desperate appeal to free him from his unjust five-year prison sentence in Egypt.
The letter — which was organised by FairSquare and signed by 25 leading human rights organisations including Amnesty International — urges Mr Lammy to lead on a joint statement at the HRC calling for his urgent release.
It says: “We remain deeply concerned that Alaa Abd el-Fattah still has not been released after completing his unjust five year prison term in September 2024, particularly given the terrible and urgent risk to the life and health of his 68-year-old mother Laila Soueif, who has been on hunger strike since then.
“We believe that a UK-led joint statement at the council would send a powerful message about the importance of Alaa’s emblematic case, and the necessity for Egypt to resolve this immediately, by releasing him so that he can be reunited with his son.”
Mr Fattah, 43, has been detained in Egypt since September 2019.
He was was sentenced to five years in prison after being accused of spreading false news in December 2021.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer vowed to press the Egyptian government for his release after meeting his mother earlier this month.
Ms Soueif has lost nearly 30kg, some 34 per cent of her body weight, having consumed nothing but herbal tea, black coffee and rehydration salts since last September.
US President Donald Trump has withdrawn the country from the council.
Human rights co-ordinator at FairSquare Alex Carlen said: “The UK must not shy away from its responsibility to use the Human Rights Council session to call out the injustice of Alaa’s ongoing imprisonment and increase international pressure on Egypt to release him.
“This is a crucial opportunity for the government to demonstrate that it can act independently of the United States on the world stage and advocate for its citizen and human rights issues more broadly despite the decision by the Trump administration to abandon the council.”
The Foreign Office was contacted for comment.
