‘We are being ignored’: Rishi Sunak urged to prioritise case of jailed writer Alaa Abd El-Fattah | UK News

The household of writer and activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah renews calls on Rishi Sunak to safe his launch from jail in Egypt, one 12 months after the PM stated he was “committed” to the case.

Rishi Sunak has been urged to ship on a promise to get jailed British writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah launched from an Egyptian jail, the place he has been denied entry to a lawyer or the British consulate.

Monday will mark a 12 months because the PM stated he was “totally committed” to resolving the case of Alaa Abd el-Fattah, the pro-democracy writer who has spent most of the previous 10 years in jail, accused of spreading false information.

The prime minister wrote to the household forward of the COP27 local weather summit in Egypt, saying Alaa “remains a priority for the British government, both as a human rights defender and as a British national”.

The convention drew worldwide condemnation of Alaa’s imprisonment, with US President Joe Biden utilizing it to increase the case with Egypt’s authoritarian president, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

But Alaa’s sister Sanaa Seif stated her brother “still languishes in prison”, and the British Consulate remains to be being refused entry by Egyptian officers.

“It’s time for the prime minister to deliver on his promise, or to at least show that he’s trying,” Ms Seif informed Sky News.

“That heart-warming and hopeful feeling back then, when I got a letter from the prime minister – it’s no longer there, because it’s been a year, nothing has happened.”

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office stated: “Our priority remains securing consular access to Mr el-Fattah and his release. We continue to raise his case at the highest levels of the Egyptian Government.”

Sky News understands Foreign Secretary James Cleverly final raised the case with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on 18 September, and different ministers have additionally pressed Egyptian officers within the final 12 months.

Although Alaa’s jail circumstances have improved since COP27 – he’s now allowed daylight, time exterior and a TV – he stays in jail with no authorized or consular entry.

Fresh calls in a letter from MPs in July went broadly unanswered.

UK officers merely ‘managing our rage’

“We feel ignored,” Ms Seif added, saying it appeared overseas workplace workers appeared quite to be “managing our rage, our frustration” than having a mandate to obtain a lot.

Richard Ratcliffe, who doggedly campaigned for six years for the discharge of his spouse Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from an Iranian jail, stated it’s “disappointing after an advocacy high point when a year later you realise nothing has moved”.

“It always means that the government hasn’t pushed that hard, and the family needs to find a new way to climb the priorities again.”

Ms Seif is ramping up campaigning this month, planning media interviews, a letter to the prime minister and a London occasion with writers’ charity PEN International.

But she fears the battle in Gaza and “dehumanisation” of Arab individuals by politicians and the media will make it even tougher to safe her brother’s launch.

“The whole debate around whether we should be calling for a ceasefire or not basically means that these Palestinian civilian lives are not as worth saving as others,” she stated.

“It’s making me question if [UK politicians] people will ever do any good for us because I’m also Arab.”

Mr Ratcliffe stated that in present conversations between the UK and Egypt concerning the battle in Gaza, the UK can also be “signalling to Egypt how much Alaa means to them”.

“For Alaa to come home soon, the UK needs to make him a priority in all those conversations. Clearly, that hasn’t happened this past year.”