17 freedom of expression and human rights organisations have written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer to jointly call for the UK to intensify efforts to secure British-Egyptian writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah’s release.
#FreeAlaa
Rt Hon Sir Keir Starmer MP
10 Downing Street
London
United Kingdom
SW1A 2AB
14 March 2025
Dear Prime Minister,
We, the undersigned 17 freedom of expression and human rights organisations, are writing to welcome your work to secure the release of imprisoned British-Egyptian writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah and to urge you to continue to intensify these efforts.
We welcome your attention to Alaa’s case – in particular your call to President Sisi on 28 February in which you pressed for Alaa’s release. As you know, this level of engagement has allowed his mother Laila Soueif to have ‘hope that Alaa’s case might move’ and to move to a partial hunger strike of 300 calories a day.
We trust that you will stand by your statement in parliament on 26 February where you made a guarantee to Alaa’s mother that you would do all that you can to secure his release.
The need to resolve this case and secure Alaa’s release remains urgent. Laila has stated that ‘without fast movement on Alaa’s case’ she will resume a total hunger strike. Meanwhile, on learning that his mother had been hospitalised, Alaa himself began a hunger strike on 1 March.
The holy month of Ramadan offers an opportunity for clemency from the Egyptian government. Last week, 50 Nobel Prize winners, writers, and international organisations wrote to President Sisi asking him to issue a Presidential pardon for Alaa and to ‘signal a commitment to justice and compassion’.
In your last call with President Sisi, you agreed to speak again soon. We sincerely request that this happens as soon as possible in the hope that it can finally unlock Alaa’s release in the coming weeks.
Prime Minister, your recent engagement on this case has created an opportunity to see Alaa reunited with his son in Brighton. We urge you to use this chance to do all you can to ensure his long-overdue release.
Yours sincerely,
Alejandro Mayoral Baños, Executive Director, Access Now
Sacha Deshmukh, Chief Executive, Amnesty International UK
Quinn McKew, Executive Director, ARTICLE 19
Chris Doyle, Director, Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU)
Jodie Ginsberg, Chief Executive Officer, Committee to Protect Journalists
Jillian C. York, Director for International Freedom of Expression, Electronic Frontier Foundation
Daniel Gorman, Director, English PEN
James Lynch, Co-Director, FairSquare
Yasmine Ahmed, UK Director, Human Rights Watch
Baroness Helena Kennedy LT KC, Director, International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
Liz McManus, Chairperson, Irish PEN / PEN na hÉireann
Jim Killock, Executive Director, Open Rights Group
Liesl Gerntholtz, Managing Director, PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center, PEN America
Grace Westcott, President, PEN Canada
Romana Cacchioli, Executive Director, PEN International
Fiona O’Brien, UK Director, Reporters Without Borders
Menna Elfyn, President, Wales PEN Cymru