Egypt’s most famous political prisoner, Alaa Abdel Fattah, on hunger strike and who would only have a few days left to live according to his supporters, invited himself Monday, November 7, to the discussions between leaders gathered in Sharm El -Sheikh for COP27.
The Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi, thus had to answer successively to the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and to the French President, Emmanuel Macron, about the British-Egyptian prisoner, icon of the 2011 revolution in Egypt. Mr. Sunak had warned: Alaa Abdel Fattah is ” a priority ” for London. On Monday evening, after meeting with the Egyptian president, he said “hope to see his case resolved as soon as possible” and pledged to continue to “pressing for progress”, according to a Downing Street spokesperson. Mr. Macron, he assured that Mr. Sissi had ” engaged ” that the health of Alaa Abdel Fattah “be preserved”saying hope that “the next few weeks and months will bring results”.
Mr. Sissi’s spokesman was content to report on these talks without revealing their content. The head of Egyptian diplomacy, Sameh Choukri, president of COP27, assured the CNBC television channel that Alaa Abdel Fattah “benefits from all the necessary care in prison”.
So many assertions rejected by the relatives of Mr. Abdel Fattah, including his sister Sanaa Seif, present in Sharm El-Sheikh where she multiplies the meetings with officials and the interviews.
” Danger of death “
Since April 2, Alaa Abdel Fattah, President Sissi’s pet peeve, has only ingested a glass of tea and a spoonful of honey a day in his prison in Wadi Natrun, northwest of Cairo. Imprisoned several times since 2006, he completely stopped eating last Tuesday and drinking on Sunday, when COP27 opened in Sharm El-Sheikh, at the other end of the country.
On Monday, three Egyptian journalists announced they were starting a hunger strike to demand his release. “We stop feeding ourselves now because Alaa Abdel Fattah is in mortal danger”, explained Mona Selim, during a sit-in in Cairo with Eman Ouf and Racha Azab. They claim “the release of all prisoners of conscience”which are more than 60,000 in Egypt, according to NGOs.
Activists present at COP27 are increasing the number of posts under the hashtag #FreeAlaa on social networks, and several speakers from civil society ended their speeches with the phrase You have not yet been defeated (“You have not yet been defeated”)the title of Alaa Abdel Fattah’s book. “There is not much time, at best seventy-two hours, to free Alaa Abdel Fattah. Whether [les autorités égyptiennes] do not, this death will be in all discussions at COP27”warned on Sunday the secretary general of Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard.
In Beirut, a hundred people demonstrated Monday in front of the British Embassy.
“He embodies the struggle of the Arab world against authoritarian regimes for twelve years”said journalist and activist Diana Moukalled, who held up a black and white portrait of the activist, accompanied by the keyword #FreeAlaa.
“Symbol of the arbitrariness of the regime”
Abdel Fattah, an engineer by training and pro-democracy blogger, who for years was part of all the revolts in Egypt, was condemned at the end of 2021 to five years in prison for “spreading false information”.
He was a figurehead of the Kefaya political movement in the 2000s, then of the 2011 revolution which overthrew Hosni Mubarak, of the monster parades against the Islamist Mohamed Morsi two years later and finally of the demonstrations against Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi. .
Since his prison, he has become “the symbol of the arbitrariness of the regime”, says Agnès Callamard. According to Amnesty, since Egypt reactivated its Presidential Pardon Commission in April, 766 prisoners of conscience have been released. But 1,540 others entered prison, including Sherif Al-Roubi, a figure on the left, reincarcerated after having benefited from this pardon, notes the NGO. “The president had announced an initiative that was to put an end to incarcerations for crimes of opinion but in reality, it is the opposite”adds M.me Selim.
Although its Constitution guarantees freedom of the press, Egypt has around thirty imprisoned journalists. According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Cairo is 168e out of 180 in the freedom of the press ranking in 2022.
Alaa Abdel Fattah’s first stay in prison dates back to 2006, under Hosni Mubarak. He returned there under Marshal Mohammed Tantaoui, de facto leader of the country between 2011 and 2012, under Morsi and then under President Sissi since 2019. It was from his cell that he became a British citizen, in the midst of a hunger strike , his mother, Laila Soueif being born in London.