Alaa-Abdel Fattah: Nobel literature prize winners urge release of Briton held in Egypt

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and other world leaders have been urged by the majority of living Nobel Literature Prize winners to demand the release of British-Egyptian writer Alaa Abd El-Fattah who has been unlawfully jailed in Egypt.

The pro-democracy activist has spent much of the last decade behind bars in Egypt. He is currently serving a five-year sentence after being convicted on charges of spreading false news after he shared social media posts about dire prison conditions.

Mr Abd El-Fattah, 40, who has been on hunger strike for more than 200 days, allowing himself just 100 calories a day, has said he plans to stop drinking water as of Sunday, the first day of the Cop27 climate summit to be hosted in Sharm el Sheikh.

In an open letter in advance of the summit, 15 living Nobel Literature Prize winners called on Mr Sunak, foreign secretary James Cleverly and other heads of state and dignitaries heading to the conference to use their position to “speak the names of the imprisoned, to call for their freedom, and to invite Egypt to turn a page and become a true partner in ... a future that respects human life and dignity”.

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The letter states: “We ask you use bilateral meetings to support the call from Egyptian and international human rights groups for a prisoner amnesty; to make your support a standing agenda item.

“We ask you, in your address, to bring the voices of the unjustly imprisoned into the room.

“Alaa Abd El-Fattah’s powerful voice for democracy is close to being extinguished, we ask you to breathe life into it by reading his words.”

The letter goes on to relay a passage written by Mr Abd El-Fattah in 2019, which reads: “The crisis is not one of awareness, but of surrender to the inevitability of inequality.

“If the only thing that unites us is the threat, then everyone will move to defend their interests. But if we collect around a hope in a better future, a future where we put an end to all forms of inequality, this global awareness will be transformed into positive energy.

“Hope, here, is necessary. Our dreams may not come to pass, but if we submit to our nightmares we’ll be killed by fear before the Flood.”

Mr Sunak initially ruled out attending the summit, but has signalled he could U-turn in the face of widespread criticism.

Last month, Mr Abd El-Fattah’s sisters Sanaa and Mona Seif and other family members began a sit-in outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in Whitehall, with the intention of staying there until the Cop27 conference.

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Sanaa Seif previously told the PA news agency the family was concerned for Mr Abd El-Fattah’s health.

She said: “Last time my mum saw him he looked really frail. His mind was still alert but like he looked really frail and he can barely stand.

“I don’t know how much his body can take any more, he looks like skeleton, basically. He writes letters and his mind is awake. But of course, 100 calories can’t keep you alive for long.

“He’s been lately very emotional, but is not hopeful that he will be out, but he’s been very emotional and loving because he feels that we as family are doing our best to try and support him.

“To the government, I would say the French have done it, the Americans have done it, Britain is capable of doing it.

“Just put it on your agenda, put it on your to-do list, you can save my brother.”

The software developer is one of Egypt’s most high-profile political prisoners and has been repeatedly targeted by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s administration.

Last week 64 MPs and peers from across Westminster wrote to Mr Cleverely warning that Mr Abdel-Fattah’s life is at “serious risk”.

Additional reporting by agencies