Alaa Abdel Fattah’s family wants to pressure the British government to take action to release him from Egypt
The family of Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah has started a sit-in in front of the British Foreign Office in London, hoping to create more pressure for his release from a prison in Egypt.
Alaa was a key figure in the 2011 revolution that toppled the regime of late President Hosni Mubarak. A Cairo court sentenced him in December to five years in prison for “broadcasting false news” and has since declared that he is on a hunger strike.
Britain granted Alaa British citizenship last April while he is in prison, through his British-born mother. His sister, Sana Seif, says he is becoming increasingly weak and that time is running out to save him.
Supporters of the prominent Egyptian activist gathered in London on Tuesday to celebrate the 200th anniversary of his hunger strike, and called on the British government to do more for his release.
“I don’t feel that concrete steps have been taken to secure my brother’s release,” his sister, Sanaa Seif, 28, said while trying to camp outside the Foreign Office in London.
“My brother has been on permanent hunger strike in Egyptian prisons for 200 days,” she told AFP.
She confirmed that he became really skinny and weak, “The last time my mother saw him, he looked like a skeleton.”
Sana called on the British government to use its economic influence on Egypt to secure his release.
And about the reason for the sit-in decision, she explained that she wants to “remind them daily that Alaa is dying and they can save him. It is not difficult. They just need the political will to do so.”
Dozens of supporters attended the gathering, some of whom carried banners bearing the Amnesty International logo, and his other sister appealed to British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly to “bring Alaa home.”
Mona Seif continues, drawing attention to her brother’s plight and what human rights groups say are about 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt.
Abdel-Fattah obtained British citizenship through his British-born mother, Laila Souif.
Then-foreign secretary, current Prime Minister Liz Truss, said in June that Britain was “working hard to secure his release”.
And Labor MP David Lamy warned that Alaa was “losing health and losing weight.”
“This has gone on for a very long time,” he told AFP, adding that “another family is in dire need. Of course, you shouldn’t have to sit down to draw attention to these issues.”
“I urge Secretary of State James Cleverly to heed what is being said and do everything in his power to bring this matter to a successful conclusion,” he added.