Alaa Abd el-Fattah can only live a few more days – the UK must act

If a British citizen is allowed to die of hunger and thirst in a squalid cell while our PM is in the country cosying up to Egyptian officials, what does that mean for the safety of any British citizen in Egypt, asks Bel Trew

Alaa’s death will also have tricky consequences for Egypt, a country that has loudly trumpeted its hosting of Cop27 (Reuters)

Time isn’t running out: it has run out. Alaa Abd el-Fattah, a British citizen and one of Egypt’s most prominent pro-democracy activists, has stopped drinking water in protest at his unjust detention in Egypt (he is an Amnesty prisoner of conscience). 

This is after the software developer, who has spent most of the last decade behind bars, escalated a six-month hunger strike. He can only live a few more days. If he dies, the consequences will ricochet well beyond the four walls of his prison cell, well beyond the grief of his family, well beyond the shores of Egypt.

Our prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is in Egypt right now on his first major diplomatic trip abroad since assuming office, as he attends the Cop27 summit alongside dozens of world leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh.