Photo: Stop the repression in Egypt - Stop Sisi's visit to London". by alisdare1, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
A coalition of 25 UK, Egyptian and international organisations have called on British Foreign Secretary David Lammy to use the UN Human Rights Council to draw attention to the pronounced human rights crisis in Egypt. Doing so would support arbitrarily imprisoned British-Egyptian national Alaa Abd el-Fattah, the groups said.
In a letter published today, as the Human Rights Council begins a new session in Geneva, the signatory organisations asked the British government to lead on a joint statement on Egypt.
The human rights situation continues to deteriorate in Egypt. The authorities continue to crush dissent and stifle civil society, arbitrarily arresting thousands in recent years including journalists, opposition politicians, relatives of dissidents abroad, peaceful protesters, trade unionists, lawyers and people critical of the human rights situation, and anyone critical of the government’s handling of the economic crisis and worsening living conditions. Enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment remain routine in detention facilities.
In 2021, 31 governments made a joint statement on Egypt at the Human Rights Council. Following this, the authorities lifted the state of emergency and announced a new human rights strategy and a National Dialogue. Arbitrarily detained individuals, including some prominent activists, were also released. Whilst these were largely insufficient or cosmetic measures, they demonstrate the Egyptian authorities’ interest in being seen to respond to joint statements by States at the Council.
At the Human Rights Council in January this year, the UK called for the release of human rights defender Alaa Abd el-Fattah – whose detention it called “unacceptable” – and “all detainees held for exercising their right to freedom of expression”.
Alaa Abd el-Fattah is a British-Egyptian citizen who has been imprisoned in Egypt for more than a decade for his writings on democracy. He should have been released in September 2024 after completing his unjust five year prison term, but the Egyptian authorities have refused to release him. Since then his 68-year-old mother Laila Soueif has been on hunger strike, surviving only on rehydration salts and herbal teas. On 14 February, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met Laila, and committed publicly to doing “everything I can” to secure Alaa’s release.
The human rights organisations are calling on the UK to build on that strong stand, convinced that, “a UK-led joint statement at the Council would send a powerful message about the importance of Alaa’s emblematic case, and the necessity for Egypt to resolve this immediately, by releasing him so that he can be reunited with his son in Brighton.”
The full list of signatories is:
Access Now
Amnesty International
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
Campaign Against Arms Trade
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu)
DAWN
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)
Egyptian Front for Human Rights (EFHR)
El Nadim Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence
English PEN
FairSquare
Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement
International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute
International Service for Human Rights
Intersection Association for Rights and Freedoms
MENA Rights Group
Middle East Democracy Center (MEDC)
PEN International
REDRESS
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Sinai Foundation for Human Rights
The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP)
Wales PEN Cymru
On the fifth anniversary of the 'Xiamen Gathering' crackdown, 38 civil society organisations and activists across the world reaffirm their solidarity with Chinese human rights defenders and lawyers persecuted for advocating for human rights.
Civil society urges States to ensure a resolution at the upcoming 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council addresses the protection of human rights defenders from emerging risks resulting from technological trends and shifting online spaces.
The UN has reviewed El Salvador's human rights record, with civil society, UN bodies and many States calling for the lifting of the state of emergency which, according to civil society groups, has led to the arbitrary detention of thousands of people.
