Release writer Alaa Abdelfattah: CPJ-led joint letter to Egyptian president

Writer Alaa Abdelfattah

March 7, 2025 - In a joint letter led by the Committee to Protect Journalists, 50 prominent human rights leaders, Nobel Prize laureates, writers, and public figures have called on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to grant a presidential pardon to Egyptian-British writer Alaa Abdelfattah.

The letter, sent Tuesday, highlights that Abdelfattah has spent nearly a decade behind bars and now faces an additional two years in detention — despite provisions in Egyptian law that should have secured his release last September. His continued imprisonment has not only defied the expectations of his family and human rights organizations but also violates Egyptian law, given the time he has already spent in pretrial detention.

The signatories urge el-Sisi to reunite Abdelfattah with his family, particularly as his mother, Professor Laila Soueif — a respected 69-year-old Egyptian academic — has endured over 150 days of hunger strike in protest of her son’s unjust continued detention. Her health has now severely deteriorated, leading to hospitalization. Doctors have warned that she faces an “immediate risk of sudden death” if she continues fasting. - CPJ