Jailed Egypt activist Abdel Fattah becomes UK citizen: Family

The household of Alaa Abdel Fattah has appealed to British authorities to hunt consular entry to go to him in jail.

The 40-year-old activist has spent many of the previous decade behind bars [File: Nariman El-Mofty/AP Photo]

Jailed Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah has obtained British citizenship from inside jail, his household has mentioned.

Abdel Fattah, an outspoken dissident, rose to prominence with the 2011 pro-democracy uprisings that swept the Center East and in Egypt toppled long-time President Hosni Mubarak. The 40-year-old activist has spent many of the final decade behind bars.

The household has appealed to the UK’s authorities to hunt consular entry to go to him in jail.

Abdel Fattah, alongside together with his sisters Mona and Sanaa, gained UK citizenship by means of their mom, maths professor Laila Soueif, who was born in London in 1956.

As a British citizen, Abdel Fattah additionally requests he be allowed to speak with the household’s legal professionals within the UK “in order that they'll take all doable authorized measures relating to not solely the violations he has been subjected to, however all of the crimes towards humanity he has witnessed throughout his imprisonment”, in keeping with a press release launched by his sisters.

“For 2 and a half years, he has been saved in a cell with out daylight, with no books, no train. His visitations have been lower to 1 member of the family, for 20 minutes a month, by means of glass, with not a second of privateness or contact,” the assertion mentioned.

Abdel Fattah started a starvation strike earlier this month to protest alleged violations towards him and different detainees within the Tora jail complicated, his household mentioned.

“This can be a British citizen detained unlawfully, in appalling circumstances, merely for exercising his primary rights to peaceable expression and affiliation,” Daniel Furner, one of many household legal professionals, informed The Related Press information company.

There was no fast remark from the UK International Workplace.

Egypt has launched a number of political prisoners who maintain a second nationality in recent times.

Abdel Fattah was sentenced in December to 5 years in jail after he was convicted together with two others of “broadcasting false information”.

He had already been in pre-trial detention in Cairo’s Tora jail since September 2019.

The federal government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, a United States ally with deep financial ties to European international locations, has been relentlessly silencing dissenters and clamping down on unbiased organisations for years with arrests and restrictions.

Most of the high activists concerned within the 2011 rebellion are actually in jail, most underneath a draconian legislation handed in 2013 successfully banning all avenue protests.

Rights teams say Egypt is holding a complete of some 60,000 political prisoners, many dealing with brutal circumstances and overcrowded cells.