In a joint letter, the Committee to Protect Journalists and 16 other press freedom and human rights organizations called on UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to ramp up efforts to secure Egyptian-British writer AlaaAbdelfattah’s release. Abdelfattah has spent nearly a decade behind bars and now faces an additional two years in detention—despite Egyptian legal provisions that should have ensured his release last September.
The letter highlights the urgency of Abdelfattah’s case as he began a hunger strike in prison on March 1, 2025. His 69-year-old mother, Laila Soueif—a respected Egyptian professor—conducted a hunger strike for more than 150 days, which led to severe health deterioration and hospitalization.
On March 4, CPJ led another joint letter, signed by 50 prominent human rights leaders, Nobel Prize laureates, writers, and public figures, calling on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to grant a presidential pardon to Abd El Fattah.
Read the full letter in here.