Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many times have Ministers, officials or Cairo Embassy staff raise the topic of Alaa Abh El-Fattah with the Government of Egypt since 5 July 2025.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Rt Hon Member appears to be under the false impression that the campaign for Mr El-Fattah's release began just six months ago.

In fact, the FCDO first raised Mr El-Fattah's case following his initial conviction in June 2014, a full eleven years before the date mentioned by the Rt Hon Member, and successive governments gave him consular support and made it a priority to argue for his release after he was granted British citizenship in 2021.

If the Rt Hon Member shares the Government's determination to address the information failures exposed by this case, as set out in my statement to the House on 5 January, then it does him no credit to pretend that these same information failures did not also exist under the government in which he served.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many meetings Ministers have had on the topic of Alaa Abh El-Fattah since 5 July 2025.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Rt Hon Member appears to be under the false impression that the campaign for Mr El-Fattah's release began just six months ago.

In fact, the FCDO first raised Mr El-Fattah's case following his initial conviction in June 2014, a full eleven years before the date mentioned by the Rt Hon Member, and successive governments gave him consular support and made it a priority to argue for his release after he was granted British citizenship in 2021.

If the Rt Hon Member shares the Government's determination to address the information failures exposed by this case, as set out in my statement to the House on 5 January, then it does him no credit to pretend that these same information failures did not also exist under the government in which he served.