Rapscallion Magazine Campaign News: blogger detained for championing human rights in Egypt remains in jail despite pressure from British MPs

By Harry Mottram: A human rights activist and blogger remains in prison in Egypt despite pressure from the British Government and MPs to free him.
Alaa Abd El-Fattah is an Egyptian-British blogger who is serving five years in prison for “spreading fake news”.
The 41-year-old has spent most of the past 10 years in prison, accused of terrorism charges and breaking a law that essentially bans protest in Egypt.
In general the Egyptian authorities do not recognise join citizenship and seemingly will not budge on their hard line policy. Past and present UK politicians plus lawyers signed an open letter asking for his release but so far he remains incarcerated in jail. Among those who signed it were co-leader of the Greens party Caroline Lucas, Labour MPs Diane Abbot and Hilary Benn, and Conservatives including Iain Duncan Smith. They also called on the UK authorities to update its travel advice to align with Washington.
Amnesty International reported that ‘Alaa has been repeatedly detained for his activism, meaning that his son was born while Alaa was in prison for several months. In 2019, he was arrested and in December 2021 was sentenced to five years in prison for sharing a social media post about torture.”
To find out more on Twitter there is the @freealaa group and these is also more info at https://www.amnesty.org.uk/Alaa-Abdel-Fattah-Whats-Happening