UK should impose sanctions on Egypt over jailed activist, says Helena Kennedy

The UK government should impose sanctions on key figures in the Egyptian government in response to its refusal to release the British-Egyptian human rights activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, Labour's most prominent human rights lawyer has proposed.
Writing in the Guardian, Helena Kennedy called for the UK to take the case to the international court of justice, as France has recently done in the case of a national held by Iran.
Lady Kennedy said the moves were necessary as Abd el-Fattah's 69-year-old mother, Leila Soueif, enters the 243rd day of her hunger strike at St Thomas' hospital in London. She started the strike to secure either British consular access to her son or his release. Doctors have told the family she is at risk of sudden death, but her body has also adapted to months without food. It is the second time she has been hospitalised.
Her son has been held in various forms of detention in Egypt for more than 10 years, but completed his latest five-year jail sentence last September. However, the Cairo judiciary kept him in prison on the grounds that the two years he had spent in jail prior to his sentencing did not count as part of his five years.
Soueif's two daughters remain by her bedside, but her family say she is determined not to back down and will see this through to a resolution.
Kennedy has urged the British government to elevate the case to a much higher level, including introducing 'sanctions against any Egyptian authorities responsible for Abd el-Fattah's continued detention beyond the end of his five-year sentence', a course she has recommended to the Commons foreign affairs select committee.
She is also calling for holding off any new trade and investment cooperation with Egypt. Overall, she says, the UK government's approach in the case has been too timid and Soueif, a distinguished human rights activist, 'wants more than anything else to reunite her son with his own 14-year-old son, who lives in Brighton and has barely been able to spend time with his father'.
Kennedy said: 'Laila's bravery and fortitude is astonishing. The time for relying solely on polite diplomacy is long past: the prime minister must demonstrate his strength and resolve on this case.'
Last week, Kennedy joined the former British ambassador to Egypt John Casson, the former Foreign Office minister Peter Hain and the campaigner Richard Ratcliffe in urging 'caution against travel to Egypt'.
Kennedy said: 'In light of what we have learned from Alaa's case, the British government must make clear that a British citizen who falls foul of the police state in Egypt cannot expect fair process, nor normal support from the British government. Hundreds of thousands of British citizens travel to Egypt each year, making a major contribution to the country's economy, and the truth is we can't guarantee their rights. The Egyptian government will undoubtedly take notice if its failure to abide by the rule of law starts affecting British hotel bookings for the winter season.'
The UK prime minister has twice phoned the Egyptian president to urge him to show clemency, but no punitive measures have been threatened by the UK government.
Soueif's determination has led to vigils being held for her in Berlin, Washington and Damascus.
Omar Robert Hamilton, a nephew of Soueif who was with his aunt over the weekend, said she had told him 'my course is irreversible'. He added: 'My aunt's resolve has only grown stronger in hospital. She is receiving the messages of support and solidarity from around the world, and she will see her struggle through to the end – whatever that end is.'
More than 120 former Egyptian political prisoners have also appealed to the president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, to show clemency. They wrote: 'What unites us is that we have been inside this circle, but what distinguishes us from Alaa and others still in detention is that the state has made decisions – at various stages – to give a presidential pardon, or release after the extension of our sentences has expired. And today, years or months after we left jail, we were not a threat or likely to damage to public safety, we simply returned to our lives, trying to restore what was lost.'

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Western Telegraph

9 minutes ago

• Western Telegraph

British state ‘overbearing' ministers say as they lay out industrial overhaul

In the Industrial Strategy published on Monday, the Government has backed UK industries it thinks have the potential to grow, with the aim of creating jobs and prosperity across Britain and Northern Ireland. Artificial intelligence (AI), offshore wind power, and electric vehicle batteries are among the sectors which feature. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during a visit to Horiba Mira in Nuneaton to mark the launch of the Government's Industrial Strategy (Jacob King/PA) The strategy aims to help realise Labour's mission pledge to create sustained economic growth, which ministers want to see become the highest in the G7. In the strategy's foreword, alongside Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, Sir Keir said that 'when new opportunities present themselves, Britain often finds itself too regulated to take advantage'. The ministers added: 'The result is a state that is both overbearing and feeble, poorly serving an economy that has become too reliant on one place, too exposed to global volatility and too sluggish to take advantage of transitions like the move to homegrown clean energy'. They said that the strategy marks a 'new approach' and accounts for a decade-long plan to make Britain an attractive country to invest in. The industrial strategy focuses on eight areas. As well as the main strategy, on Monday the Government also published five separate 'sector plans', with more details on distinct policy areas: advanced manufacturing, creative industries, clean energy, digital and technology, and professional and business services. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves (third from right) and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds (right) during a visit to Nuneaton (Jacob King/PA) Plans for the defence, financial services and life sciences sectors will come later. The ministers said that the eight sectors had been 'identified as those best placed to create the wealth, jobs, and higher wages our country needs in every community'. The five sector plans published on Monday emphasised the opportunities for growth across the regions and nations of the UK. Edinburgh's robotics and agri-tech research hubs, and the space industry of the Oxford to Cambridge corridor featured among advanced manufacturing industries. Onshore and offshore wind in south-west Wales, and heat pump producers in Northern Ireland feature in the clean energy sector plans, while Birmingham and Manchester's AI and cyber industries are highlighted in the plan for digital technology. Several of the sector plans also address the changes which AI could have upon their industries. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during a visit to Horiba Mira in Nuneaton, to mark the launch of the Government's Industrial Strategy (Jacob King/PA) The creative industries for example, will need to 'embrace new technology', one document says, insisting the Government will maximise the value of AI, while 'protecting and incentivising human creativity'. The strategy includes details on several ways the Government wants to make it easier for firms to do business, such as tackling 'high industrial electricity costs' and reducing 'regulatory burdens'. It also says ministers will 'remove planning barriers' and 'ensure our tax system supports growth'. As part of the plans, energy costs for businesses will be cut by scrapping green levies to help them compete with foreign rivals. From 2027, a new British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme will cut costs by up to £40 per megawatt hour for over 7,000 manufacturing firms by exempting them from levies on bills including the renewables obligation, feed-in tariffs and the capacity market. The strategy comes after the latest figures indicated the economy shrank by 0.3% in April, the biggest monthly contraction in gross domestic product for a year-and-a-half, as businesses felt the impact of Donald Trump's tariffs and domestic pressure as a result of hikes to firms' national insurance contributions.

BBC News

13 minutes ago

• BBC News

Historic England awards money to boost Bedford shopfronts

Shopfronts in a historical market town are due to be revitalised thanks to £490,000 in England gave the money towards improving the Tavistock Street and Broadway areas of Bedford.A total of £6.5m has already been dished out as part of the project, which aimed to breathe new life into older buildings in the MP Mohammad Yasin said it was a "real vote of confidence in our town's rich heritage". The money will be handed to Bedford Borough Council, which began the High Street Heritage Action Zone Programme in shopfronts have been improved in that period, with money also spent on repaving Silver Street and widening the pavement in High Street."The £490,000 grant from Historic England will allow us to build on the regeneration work already done in the town centre," said Yasin, a Labour Calladine, from Historic England, said the project had been a "remarkable success".He added: "This new phase focusing on Tavistock Street and Broadway is attempting to extend these benefits." Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

Telegraph

13 minutes ago

• Telegraph

Key Tottenham detail revealed as Fabio Paratici's worldwide ban nears end

Fabio Paratici has a consultancy contract with Tottenham Hotspur that runs to the end of August, meaning the club are under no pressure to hand him a new staff role despite the fact his worldwide ban is nearing an end. New head coach Thomas Frank did not mention Paratici, who can apply for British citizenship next summer, when discussing the people he anticipated working closely alongside at Tottenham in his first interview as head coach last week. Frank picked out chairman Daniel Levy, chief executive Vinai Venkatesham and technical director Johan Lange, but Telegraph Sport understands that Paratici will continue to play an active role under the terms of his consultancy contract. Paratici resigned from his job as managing director of football in April 2023 after being banned from working within football for his role in alleged false accounting at his former club Juventus, although that has not stopped him acting as a contracted consultant for Tottenham. Paratici's worldwide football ban is due to expire on July 20, but Spurs do not immediately need to decide on a staff position for him given his contract as a consultant is understood to run to the end of August, with the summer transfer window shutting on Sep 1. There remains a possibility that Paratici will eventually return to a full-time role. He could alternatively extend his consultancy contract and there is confidence that a civil trial he is part of will not affect a decision either way. Lange survived the Tottenham cull that saw former head coach Ange Postecoglou and three members of his staff sacked, along with chief football officer Scott Munn, and the Dane was vital in the appointment of Frank who he is an old friend and colleague of. Despite the appointment of Lange in October 2023, Paratici has remained an active and visible figure around Tottenham with the Italian attending games. Paratici is understood to be keen to make a swift return to a full-time job in football once his ban ends and is thought to have prioritised staying in England over moving back to Italy or heading to Saudi Arabia. The 52-year-old can apply for British citizenship from June next year. It remains to be seen whether the long-term destination of Paratici has a bearing on the future of his 16-year-old son Lorenzo, who is a highly-rated youth footballer currently at Sampdoria. Referencing his working relationship with Levy, Venkatesham and Lange, Frank said: 'Of course, it's not just me. I think it's very important to say 'yes, the head coach is an important person', but if I don't have good people around me, it's impossible. You can't do anything alone, in my opinion. 'If you want to do something quick, you can go alone. If you want to do something big or achieve something big, you go together. So, it's definitely about doing things together – me, the staff, the players. 'I think alignment is key – from top to bottom. Of course it starts from Daniel, Vinai, Johan, and me – and the more the four of us can be aligned, just like a unit, an unbreakable unit, the stronger we'll be. 'There'll be ups and downs – right now, it's a fairytale. Everyone's happy, the sun is shining, it's fantastic. 'We haven't played one game yet. Hopefully we'll win a lot. We'll work very hard every single day to make sure we create as many magic moments for the fans and put them together and at the end of the season we'll have had a very good season.'