Dear Foreign Minister,

We write to you as British Members of Parliament and the House of Lords asking that you use your best offices to bring about the release of Alaa Abd el-Fattah, a British-Egyptian dual national held in Egypt.

As you know, he was sentenced to five years for sharing a social media post by an emergency court, whose sentences cannot be appealed – and that the state of emergency was subsequently lifted. As friends of Egypt who value the deep and historic ties between our countries, we must be candid and express our opposition to such a sentence.

Since 2nd April 2022, Alaa has been on hunger strike – a period of almost three months. We welcome the improvement in his conditions since his transfer to Wadi Al-Natrun prison but there remains an urgent risk to his health, even his life.

We support the statement by our Foreign Secretary to Parliament of June 21st and hope that his release will indeed be secured soon, and that he will be allowed to travel to the United Kingdom.

It is our hope that, as our two countries work together to deliver a successful handover of the COP Presidency, we work for the benefit of all.

We wish you a pleasant stay in London.

Sincerely,

Marsha de Cordova MP

 

Co-signatories:

Debbie Abrahams MP

Olivia Blake MP

Ben Bradshaw MP

Rt Hon Alistair Carmichael MP

Sarah Champion MP

Bambos Charalambous MP

Joanna Cherry MP

Wayne David MP

Julie Elliott MP

Margaret Ferrier MP

Lord Hannay

Kim Johnson MP

Rt Hon David Jones MP

Caroline Lucas MP

Kenny MacAskill MP

Layla Moran MP

Brendan O’Hara MP

Andrew Selous MP

Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP

Nadia Whittome MP

Baroness Blackstone

Rt Hon Lord Garnier

Lord McNicol

Baroness Northover

Lord Russell of Liverpool

Baroness Sheehan

Baroness Stern

Lord Warner

Baroness Whitaker