CPJ, 14 organizations urge UK to pause economic cooperation with Egypt until Alaa Abd el-Fattah is freed

British writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah, who was due for release on September 29 after completing a five-year prison sentence. (Photo: AP/Nariman El-Mofty)

November 5, 2024 4:57 PM EST

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 14 human rights organizations in a November 1 letter urging UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy to suspend all economic and financial partnerships with Egypt until the country frees British writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah, who was due for release on September 29 after completing a five-year prison sentence.

Egyptian authorities have refused to release Abd el-Fattah until January 2027, in violation of articles 482 and 484 of the country’s Criminal Procedure Law.

Abd el-Fattah was first arrested in September 2019, amidst a crackdown on protests calling for President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi’s resignation, and was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of anti-state and false news. In September 2024, CPJ separately called on the Egyptian government to release Abd el-Fattah, drop all remaining charges, and cease manipulating legal statutes to unjustly detain him.

Read the full statement here.