RSF welcomes UK Prime Minister’s commitment to do all he can to secure release of Alaa Abdel Fattah from jail in Egypt
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) welcomes UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s public commitment to do all he can to secure the release of British-Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah, who is arbitrarily detained in Egypt. The prime minister’s words must now be urgently followed by decisive action.
On 14 February, Starmer met members of Abdel Fattah’s family including his mother Laila Soueif, who has been on hunger strike for more than 140 days in a desperate attempt to galvanise diplomatic efforts to free her son. Following the meeting, Starmer said his message to Soueif was clear. “I will do all that I can to secure the release of her son Alaa Abd el-Fattah and reunite him with his family,” he said on X.
Fears are rising for Soueif, who says she will continue her hunger strike until there is concrete progress on freeing her son, even though her life is at risk. She has lost more than a third of her body weight since beginning her hunger strike on 29 September, the date Abdel Fattah completed his most recent five-year sentence. Abdel Fattah has spent most of the last ten years in jail as a prisoner of conscience.
"It is encouraging that the prime minister finally met Laila Soueif, and we now urge him to deliver on his words and bring Alaa Abdel Fattah home to his family without further delay. Laila should never have had to wait so long, or suffer so much, to get Downing Street’s direct attention, but we hope that the meeting will trigger the decisive diplomatic activity needed to end this family’s ordeal and Egypt’s unlawful persecution of a British citizen.
Abdel Fattah’s family, a wide coalition of human rights organisations, including RSF, and high-profile supporters worldwide have been calling for months for a stronger and more coherent approach to securing Abdel Fattah’s release.
Egypt ranks 170 out of 180 countries in the RSF 2024 World Press Freedom Index due to the frequency of censorship, police raids, arrests, shutdowns, sham trials, enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions. There are currently 20 journalists imprisoned in Egypt, including Abdel Fattah.
