Peter Lazenby
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AN Egyptian MP was led away by security guards during a family’s appeal for the release of an imprisoned political activist at the Cop27 climate summit in Egypt today.
Meanwhile family and supporters of pro-democracy activist and British-Egyptian citizen Alaa Abd El-Fattah have told Prime Minister Rishi Sunak not to return from Egypt “empty-handed” this week — or risk “staining his legacy” forever.
Mr Fattah’s sister Sanaa held a media conference at Cop27 calling for the release of her brother, who has been incarcerated for five years for “spreading fake news” and is on hunger strike.
Mr Fattah’s mother is on the second day of a vigil outside the prison.
But during the media conference, Egyptian MP Amr Darwish refused to give up the microphone after criticising Mr Fattah and was led away by UN security guards.
The family has urged Mr Sunak to press Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to order Mr Fattah’s release during the Prime Minister’s visit to the summit.
Mr Fattah’s aunt, Ahdaf Soueif, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Downing Street officially said he had raised the case but refused to respond to any questions.
“What we fear is that the British are allowing themselves once again to be fobbed off with the excuses that the Egyptian government has been using now since December, when we started asking for consular visits.
“He has had no access to anybody outside the family since December. His lawyers have not seen him. No representative of any human rights organisation has seen him. The British consulate or embassy has not seen him, despite repeated demands.
“We are just saying that Rishi Sunak should really not come back without some British official having actually seen Alaa, having spoken to him, and giving us some proof of life and consciousness and told us what will happen next.”
Greenpeace UK co-executive director Will McCallum said: “Time is running out for Alaa. Rishi Sunak has days, not weeks, to bring him back home alive.
“The PM cannot afford to come back empty-handed. Failure would be a stain on his legacy — a display of weakness that will haunt him for the rest of his career.”
Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell has insisted the PM has “strenuously emphasised” Mr Fattah's case.
