Activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah’s household try to get worldwide consideration for his plight as Egypt hosts COP27.
The sister of distinguished Egyptian British activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah has mentioned she fears her brother could also be in jail for the remainder of his life.
Talking to Al Jazeera’s The Take podcast on Wednesday, Mona Seif mentioned her household believes President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi intends to maintain her brother behind bars so long as he stays in workplace.
“We realised that so long as Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is in energy, he doesn't intend for Alaa to be out of jail in any respect, and that at any time when a case is over, they'll simply, [make] up a brand new case and new fees and ensure he spends the remainder of his life in jail,” she mentioned.
Abd el-Fattah, a blogger and software program developer, is among the most well-known voices to have come out of the rebellion of January 25, 2011, when thousands and thousands of Egyptians protested towards then-President Hosni Mubarak’s rule.
He has been imprisoned for many of the previous decade, and in April he started a partial starvation strike to protest towards his arrest and sentencing.
On November 6, within the run-up to the COP27 UN local weather summit happening on the Pink Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Abd el-Fattah escalated his starvation strike and stopped consuming water.
His youngest sister Sanaa, who has additionally been imprisoned in Egypt a number of occasions, is attending the summit to attract extra consideration to his case. She flew in from London, the place she had staged a sit-in protest in entrance of the International Workplace constructing for a number of days, demanding British officers act rapidly to make sure Abd el-Fattah’s launch.
Abd el-Fattah obtained his UK citizenship in direction of the tip of final 12 months because of household ties to Britain, after his household utilized on his behalf. In response to Mona, the hope was that the British authorities may assist him.
“He feels that for the primary time in years, there’s a chance for him to [get] out, a chance for him to alter the plan the Egyptian regime has for him, which is to stay in jail till he dies,” Mona mentioned.
“And he's attempting every little thing he has, together with placing his life in danger, to grab this chance and be reunited with us as a household and really have a go at a future away from this insanity.”
Beforehand, the British authorities’s public actions amounted to calling repeatedly for a consular go to, whereas relations between London and Cairo continued as regular.
However final week, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak mentioned he needed to reap the benefits of the COP27 local weather summit held in Egypt this month to debate Abd el-Fattah’s case, which Mona says is a shift within the UK authorities’s behaviour.
“We first bought a cellphone assembly with the international secretary, James Cleverly,” she mentioned. Then got here the assertion from Sunak, who declared he would make elevating the case a precedence.
Mona described Sunak as her brother’s final likelihood however mentioned that her household was “apprehensive that stepping up or them taking it significantly [is] taking place a little bit bit too late as a result of, effectively, the Egyptians are going to try to stall as a lot as doable, and I actually consider they need Alaa to die”.
Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s international minister and president of COP27, advised reporters in the course of the summit on Monday that Abd el-Fattah “is receiving all the mandatory care in jail”.
Shoukry has additionally solid doubt on the starvation strike, and mentioned that the Egyptian authorities had not but recognised the activist’s British citizenship.
The household dismissed the claims and repeated requires proof of life after Abd el-Fattah’s weekly letter to his mom didn't arrive as anticipated.
Mona final noticed her brother in September and was “horrified” at how a lot weight he had misplaced.
“All I may consider is that if [only] folks may see how he seems,” she mentioned. “They'd realise the severity of the scenario, and I feel that is exactly why they [Egyptian authorities] gained’t enable the consular go to they usually gained’t enable any picture or footage of how he seems proper now.”
‘Brutality and oppression’
Abd el-Fattah was among the many tens of 1000's of Egyptians who had been imprisoned following el-Sisi’s sweeping into energy after overthrowing former President Mohamed Morsi. He was arrested in November 2013 for protesting with no allow.
After finishing a five-year sentence, he was launched in March 2019 however needed to report back to a police station each night, the place he stayed from 6pm till 6am. Within the remaining 12 hours, Abd el-Fattah frolicked along with his household, reconnecting along with his non-verbal and autistic son, who's 11 years outdated.
However in September of that 12 months, he was arrested once more and held in pre-trial detention. He was sentenced in December 2021 to 5 years in jail for “broadcasting false information” – for re-sharing a Fb submit in regards to the dying of a political prisoner.
Alaa was despatched to a most safety jail the place, his household and rights teams like Amnesty Worldwide say, he was tortured.
Mona mentioned it's laborious for outsiders to understand the “degree of brutality and oppression” of the Sisi authorities. Human rights organisations say greater than 60,000 prisoners of conscience have been jailed beneath the present president.
The arrests are usually not simply restricted to writers, journalists, political activists and human rights defenders. 1000's of individuals have been randomly arrested beneath el-Sisi, Mona defined.
“They wish to set an instance as a result of they're consistently terrified that folks will repeat their try to alter issues and overthrow the regime [just like in] again in 2011,” she mentioned.
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