Spotlight on Alaa Abdel Fattah

Stratford on Avon Group's new spotlight is focussed on the case of dual national Egyptian-British human rights activist, blogger, software designer and writer Alaa Abdel Fattah.

Alaa (sometimes known as Abd el-Fattah) was very prominent in the Tahir Square demonstrations in Cairo during the Arab Spring. He has been imprisoned by the regime on a number of occasions for championing human rights in Egypt. Since December 2021 he has been serving a five-year prison term in Tora prison for allegedly 'spreading false news' and 'undermining national security'. He began a hunger strike on 2 April 2022 and is subsisting only on salts and water.

Amnesty is campaigning for his release and thinks now is a good time to take action as Egypt will host COP27 from 5 November and it is assumed that the world's press will have a focus on stories about Egypt at this time.

As a group we have written to James Cleverly (Foreign Secretary at time of publication) and the Egyptian Ambassador to the UK, to ask them to raise the issue. Amnesty believes his life is at risk and we will be taking urgent action to prevent this. 

Click here to join our urgent action and find ways of helping