Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent progress he has made on securing the release of British national Alaa Abd el-Fattah.

Since Mr El-Fattah's sentencing in December 2021 there have been numerous representations made by the UK Government concerning his imprisonment, welfare and lack of consular access. These include, most recently, the Prime Minister speaking about the case with President Sisi on 7 November stressing the UK Government's deep concern with the issue and for the case to be resolved as soon as possible. The Foreign Secretary raised his case with Foreign Minister Shoukry on 21 September and the former FCDO Minister for Africa raised the case with Foreign Minister Shoukry during her visit to Cairo in October. We continue to support the family of Alaa Abd El-Fattah. The Foreign Secretary spoke to his sisters, Mona and Sanaa Seif, on 2 November and the Minister for North Africa and the Middle East, met with them on 3 November.