British PM vows action to help activist jailed in Egypt

By AFP
February 17, 2025
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer waits for the arrival of France’s President Emmanuel Macron at the Chequers, in Aylesbury, England, on January 9, 2025 ahead of a bilateral meeting. —AFP
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer waits for the arrival of France’s President Emmanuel Macron at the Chequers, in Aylesbury, England, on January 9, 2025 ahead of a bilateral meeting. —AFP

LONDON: UK leader Keir Starmer pledged on Sunday to do “all that I can” to secure the release of a British-Egyptian pro-democracy campaigner jailed in Egypt.

Alaa Abdel Fattah was arrested by Egyptian authorities in September 2019 and handed a five-year sentence for “spreading false news” in a Facebook post on torture in Egypt´s prisons. His mother Laila Soueif has been on hunger strike for 140 days to protest her son´s imprisonment.

“Having met Laila Soueif this week, my message is clear. I will do all that I can to secure the release of her son Alaa Abdel Fattah and reunite him with his family,” Starmer said in a statement.