On Egypt’s Unjust Incarceration of the Writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah, and the Hunger Strike of Dr. Laila Soueif

Is there a more high-profile political prisoner in Egypt than British-Egyptian writer and software developer Alaa Abd el-Fattah?

In my role as President of English PEN, I see growing international outrage at the injustice of his case, and bear witness to the respect and support for Alaa and his extraordinary family and writing.

Last year, English PEN was honored to name Alaa as our Writer of Courage, selected for the award by the winner of the 2024 PEN Pinter Prize, author Arundhati Roy.

Joining us on that night were many members of Alaa’s family—including his sisters Mona and Sanaa, his young son Khaled, and his aunt, the novelist Ahdaf Soueif, with whom my literary interactions span years.

That night, Alaa was conspicuous in his absence.

Arundhati began her acceptance speech by addressing him directly, despite—or to spite—the miles and the walls of prisons between them:

My greetings to you, Alaa Abd el-Fattah, writer of courage and my fellow awardee. We hoped and prayed that you would be released in September, but the Egyptian government decided that you were too beautiful a writer and too dangerous a thinker to be freed yet. But you are here in this room with us. You are the most important person here. From prison you wrote, “[M]y words lost any power and yet they continued to pour out of me. I still had a voice, even if only a handful would listen.” We are listening, Alaa. Closely.

Two weeks earlier, on September 29, 2024, Alaa had completed his latest unjust prison sentence in Egypt. He had served his full five-year term. He should have been with us in person to accept the award. He should have been celebrating his long-overdue release with his loved ones. Instead, he continued to be held in Wadi al-Natrun prison, in violation of international law.

The day the Egyptian authorities failed to release Alaa, his mother, the formidable Dr. Laila Soueif, announced a decision that could prove to be both life-changing and life-threatening. She would go on an indefinite hunger strike to pressure the UK government to secure her son’s release. She would risk her life in the hope of finally seeing him reunited with her grandson Khaled. She would not back down.

For months, Laila has continued her strike. She paid daily visits to Downing Street to continue calling on the Prime Minister to do everything possible to free Alaa. Most days, she was joined by a varied group of supporters—family, friends, parliamentarians, NGO representatives, and advocates from across the globe. The calls for urgent action grew louder and louder.

Yet it was not until Laila was first admitted to hospital in February 2025 that the Prime Minister called President Sisi to discuss her son’s release. Following that call, Laila agreed to move to a partial hunger strike of 300 calories a day, to allow more time for negotiations.

On learning that his mother had been hospitalized, Alaa began a hunger strike in prison.

Due to a lack of any concrete progress in the months since, Laila resumed her full strike on May 20, 2025, stating:

I feel in my heart that when I moved to a partial hunger strike, the urgency was taken out of the situation.

Later that week, we once again gathered near Downing Street where, together with fellow writers and activists, we read passages from Alaa’s book You Have Not Yet Been Defeated, for which Naomi Klein wrote a foreword, in solidarity with him and his family.

Laila watched on as we shared her son’s words—incisive, determined, urgent. An excerpt, read by actor and activist Juliet Stevenson, states:

From my mother I inherited […] a love that penetrates the walls of prisons.

As the evening drew to a close, Laila warmly thanked those who had gathered to share and listen to her son’s writing, and to continue calling for his release. Though physically fragile, she remained, as ever, resolute.

A week later, on May 29, Laila was re-admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital in London. I joined a moving candlelit vigil outside, alongside the statue of Mary Seacole. The vigils have continued every evening since and are also taking place around the world—from Paris to Damascus, from Trieste to Tunis.

This global solidarity means the world to Laila, but it is not enough to free her son.

Following her hospitalization, Prime Minister Keir Starmer was again moved to call President Sisi, and yet there has been little sign of any significant progress.

Alaa’s family, campaigners, and parliamentarians are urging the UK government to take more concrete and decisive action—to deploy new and different tools, including amending FCDO travel advice for Egypt and considering sanctions on those responsible for Alaa’s unlawful incarceration.

The UK can, and must, put genuine pressure on the Egyptian authorities to resolve the situation. And they must do so now—to ensure that Alaa is free, and that this extraordinary family’s love for one another no longer needs to penetrate the walls of prisons.

Margaret Busby

Margaret Busby is the President of English PEN. Born in Ghana and educated in the UK, Margaret Busby CBE, Hon. FRSL, became Britain’s youngest and first Black woman publisher when she co-founded Allison & Busby in the late 1960s. An editor, writer, broadcaster, and critic, she has also judged numerous literary prizes, including the Booker. She edited the pioneering volumes Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writing by Women of African Descent (1992) and in 2019 New Daughters of Africa, which also initiated a scholarship for African women at SOAS University of London.