Free Alaa

line drawing illustration of Alaa Abd el Fattah

My brother (Alaa Abd el Fattah, the British-Egyptian political prisoner who has spent more than 10 years behind bars in Egypt for his work as a pro-democracy activist) finished his second five-year sentence in an Egyptian prison last September. A few days before the last day of his sentence, my mother had the sense that they didn’t plan to release him because there were none of the usual procedures that would be happening in the final days of someone serving their full sentence. And so she decided that if the 29th of September came and he was not released, or was not in the process of getting released, she was going to stop eating, that she would be on an open-ended hunger strike for as long as he remained detained beyond his five year sentence, which is where we are in right now, more than eight months later. It seems so drastic of her to take that position, but I think it was the only thing she felt was strong enough, as strong as the level of injustice that Ali is facing.

There is international support for her journey, which has been quite moving. If it weren’t for this enormous wave of solidarity erupting everywhere, not just here in the UK, not just in Egypt, where people know Ali, but everywhere—mothers in Syria, activists in Berlin, Denmark, and Lebanon—I don’t think she would have been able to make it to this wondrous and miraculous state where she is sustaining the hunger strike despite her age. She’s building a connection with mothers all over the world which is giving her the strength to continue and go beyond what is expected on a medical level. So she and we rely on this support, this international wave of solidarity, to take us to the final conclusion of this very long journey of 11 years of incarceration, of Egyptian prisons having a complete hold on our lives and the future of our kids. She is relying on this wave of support to get Ali out of prison and get him reunited with his son, Khaled, who lives in Brighton.

There is no legal basis for what the Egyptian regime is doing with Aliyah right now. Even the Egyptian domestic laws do not allow someone to be detained beyond the end of their sentence.

The problem with Egypt is that there is no longer any judicial entity that is independent enough to challenge decisions made by the State Security or, in our case, the president. It seems that the presidential office is the one handling our case directly. Ali has been detained and tortured and deprived of so many rights, moved between prisons, and tried before an emergency court. Because he was tried in an emergency court, there is no way to appeal; the sentence went to the president directly. There are many layers of injustice he has gone through every step of the way. We tried to challenge them, but there was not a single judicial institution that was willing to look at our legal complaint. They forced us to go through a trial without allowing Ali’s defense team to have a copy of the case file. During every court appearance, Ali insisted that they couldn’t proceed without his lawyers having a copy of the case file to understand what he was facing. The judge decided to adjourn for sentencing without the prosecution presenting their statement and their case, and without the defense presenting their defense. It was a sham of a trial.

The UN Group on Arbitrary Detention, after a thorough investigation of everything they could access relating to Ali’s case, issued a statement a couple of weeks ago unanimously stating that he is in arbitrary detention and should be released right now. But the Egyptian regime, since Abdel Fattah el-Sisi seized power, is negligent about anything to do with justice. What’s legal? Human rights? All background noise that they can simply squash if it doesn’t serve them. The international community is doing an amazing job… supporters, NGOs, lawyers, journalists, everyone, except the governments. We believe that it’s only with this solidarity movement that Ali is going to be freed. Maybe this will pave the way for others like him in Egypt, whether they be political prisoners in Egyptian prisons, British nationals detained abroad, or basically anyone anywhere in the world targeted for speaking their mind and for choosing to be vocal about human rights issues and violations committed by states.

We need to put pressure on governments, particularly governments that are strengthening the hold that the Egyptian regime has on the country and its people. These governments have turned a blind eye to all the atrocities this regime commits against its own people. We must continue pushing the UK Government, because at the end of the day, they are responsible for the wellbeing of my brother and every British citizen. The Egyptian Government and the British Government are allies. They have joint investments. They have joint projects. They communicate on global and regional issues all the time. In theory, it shouldn’t be that hard to ask an ally or to make sure an ally says release one of your nationals, particularly when they have fully served their sentences.

My mother, somehow, miraculously, is hanging in there. Every time she receives a bit of news or sees a clip of someone somewhere standing in solidarity with her, it gives her another push and another morale boost to continue. I hope our UK officials are capable of acting fast with the promptness that is worthy of the level of suffering and sacrifice she and my brother have endured.

Find out more at FreeAlaa.net

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