• Urgent Action

Urgent Action: EGYPTIAN-BRTISH ACTIVIST STILL UNJUSTLY JAILED (Egypt 132.19)

September 5, 2023

Egyptian-British prominent activist Alaa Abdel Fattah remains arbitrarily detained in Wadi al-Natrun prison and denied access to consular visits. On July 20th, human rights lawyer Mohamed Baker was released after 45 months of arbitrary detention, stemming solely from his peaceful human rights work, following a presidential pardon on 19 July. Mohamed Baker was arrested on September 29th 2019 from the Supreme State Security Prosecution’s office where he went to represent Alaa Abdel Fattah who had been arrested earlier that day. Both had been subjected to a litany of human rights violations including prolonged arbitrary detention, unfair trial, torture and other ill-treatment, and periodic bans on family visits. Alaa Abdel Fattah should be immediately and unconditionally released as his detention is solely linked to the peaceful exercise of his human rights

TAKE ACTION: 

  1. Write a letter in your own words or using the sample below as a guide to one or both government officials listed. You can also email, fax, call or Tweet them.

  2. Click here to let us know the actions you took on Urgent Action 132.19. It’s important to report because we share the total number with the officials we are trying to persuade and the people we are trying to help.

    CONTACT INFORMATION:
    President Abdelfattah al-Sisi
    Office of the President, Al Ittihadia Palace
    Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt Fax: +202 2391 1441
    Email: [email protected];
    Twitter: @AlsisiOfficial

    Ambassador Motaz Zahran
    Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
    3521 International Ct NW, Washington DC 20008
    Phone: 202 895 5400 I Fax: 202 244 5131
    Email: [email protected] , [email protected]
    Twitter: @EgyptEmbassyUSA , @MotazZahran
    Facebook: @EgyptEmbassyUSA
    Salutation: Dear Ambassador

    SAMPLE LETTER:

    Your Excellency,

    We welcome the release on July 20th, of Egyptian human rights defender and lawyer Mohamed Baker after nearly four years of arbitrary detention following Your Excellency’s pardon on 19 July, noting that he should not have spent a single day behind bars and that he should be provided with access to a remedy for the harm suffered. Further, I am concerned that prominent activist Alaa Abdel Fattah continues to be unjustly imprisoned, since September 2019, solely for the exercise of his human rights. On December 20th, 2021, an Emergency State Security Court convicted him on bogus charges including “spreading false news” and sentenced him five years’ imprisonment, following a grossly unfair trial. Alaa Abdel Fattah, who has spent most of the last decade arbitrary detained, has been subjected to a catalogue of human rights violations including torture and other ill-treatment, prolonged arbitrary detention, unfair trial, denial of family visits and detention in cruel and inhuman conditions.

    According to his sister, who visited him in July, Alaa Abdel Fattah’s conditions of detention in Wadi al-Natrun prison and mental health have improved. However, visits continue to take place behind a separating glass making it impossible for him to hug his loved ones. Authorities are also denying him access to his lawyers and consular visits as well as phone calls to his family. During family visits, Alaa Abdel Fattah has been expressing his extreme frustration about the lack of consular visits by British authorities, despite his and his family’s repeated requests.

    I urge you to release Alaa Abdel Fattah immediately and unconditionally, as he is detained solely for peacefully exercising his human rights. Pending his release, he must have regular access to his lawyers, family and adequate healthcare and be held in conditions that meet international standards for the treatment of prisoners. He must be granted a consular visit without further delay. Furthermore, I urge you to ensure that Mohamed Baker is granted access to a remedy for the harm suffered during his 45 months of arbitrarily detention.

    Yours sincerely,

    [YOUR NAME]

    ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: