English PEN has joined 20 other organisations in sending an urgent appeal to Prime Minister Keir Starmer. We are gravely concerned for imprisoned British-Egyptian writer and prisoner of conscience Alaa Abd el-Fattah and his mother Laila Soueif following her hospitalisation here in London yesterday. We call on the Prime Minister to act immediately.
The Rt Hon Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer KC
10 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AB
30 May 2025
Dear Prime Minister,
We are writing as a coalition of 21 organisations deeply concerned about the ongoing detention of British-Egyptian writer and prisoner of conscience Alaa Abd el-Fattah, and the rapidly deteriorating health of his mother Laila Soueif.
Earlier this week, and after an 18-month investigation, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) issued its Opinion on Mr Abd el-Fattah’s case. The Opinion could not be clearer in its terms: Mr Abd el-Fattah is being held unlawfully by the Egyptian Government. That the Egyptian Government will not provide the United Kingdom with consular access to their citizen is a further violation of Egypt’s obligations under international law. The UK must now use every tool it has at its disposal to ensure that Mr Abd el-Fattah is released immediately.
The urgency of securing his release cannot be overstated. His mother Dr Laila Soueif has now been on hunger strike for more than eight months and yesterday (Thursday 29 May) was readmitted to urgent care in hospital. The anguish her family feels is immeasurable. Remembering how close she came to death last time she was hospitalised in February, we also fear the worst.
Prime Minister, we are grateful for all of your efforts to engage with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to push for Mr Abd el-Fattah’s release. But time is now running out and, despite the UNWGAD decision, Mr Abd el-Fattah remains in jail. This is not how purported partners are supposed to treat each other’s citizens.
We call on you to make clear to President Sisi that a failure to immediately release Mr Abd el-Fattah will have long-lasting ramifications well beyond this case, both for Egypt’s reputation and for the future of its relationship with Britain, from tourism to trade and investment. The UK should also consider employing international mechanisms including the International Court of Justice. We understand that the family has written to the Foreign Secretary about concrete steps that could be taken by the UK in this regard.
Prime Minister, we call on you to act immediately, for there is no time to lose. Alaa Abd el-Fattah must return to his family now, for his sake, for the sake of his mother, and because this injustice cannot be allowed to continue.
Yours sincerely,
Alejandro Mayoral Baños, Executive Director, Access Now
Chris Doyle, Director, Caabu (Council for Arab-British Understanding)
Katie Fallon, Advocacy Manager, Campaign Against Arms Trade
Samar Elhussieny, Executive Director Egyptian Human Rights Forum (EHRF)
Sayed Nasr, Executive Director, EgyptWide for Human Rights
Jillian C. York, Director for International Freedom of Expression, Electronic Frontier Foundation
Daniel Gorman, Director, English PEN
Monia Ben Jemia, President, EuroMed Rights
James Lynch, Co-Director, FairSquare
Jacques Testard, Publisher, Fitzcarraldo Editions
Khalid Ibrahim, Executive Director, Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
Yasmine Ahmed, UK Director, Human Rights Watch
Mostafa Fouad, Executive Director, HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement
Matt Redding, Head of Advocacy, IFEX
Baroness Helena Kennedy LT KC, Director, International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
Alice Mogwe, President, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
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
Isabel Rosales, Director of the Human Rights Defenders Programme, World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Photo credit: Angela Christofilou