Save Alaa Abdel-Fatah
As #COP27 starts, we join the calls to #FREEALAA
Hey Checklisters
We hope you’re staying safe and healthy.
On November 6, 2022, Egyptian activist, blogger, software developer and political prisoner Alaa Abdel-Fatah began an extreme no-water hunger strike to demand his immediate release from prison.
Alaa started his hunger strike more than 215 days ago. He’s now on a zero calorie strike, escalating from his previous 100 calories per day strike. On November 6th, before the start of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt, Alaa will stop drinking water. With this critical decision, Alaa is facing two options in the coming days: freedom or death.
Alaa Abdel Fattah has played a key role in technology and political activism in Egypt since the early 2000s. His powerful and emotive blogging played a part in catalysing Egypt’s 2011 uprising. As a group working towards a freer and more equitable internet, Meedan stands in solidarity with Alaa. We are deeply concerned about his life amid continuous negligence, recklessness and arbitrariness shown by the Egyptian authorities despite public outcry and continuous calls by human rights organizations and lawmakers worldwide.
We urge you to take action:
Sign this petition to demand the immediate release of Alaa and Egypt’s prisoners of conscience
Take part in the global solidarity week online by tweeting and sharing with the hashtags #FreeAlaa, #SaveAlaa, #FreeThemAll, and #COP27
Rally friends and colleagues at your workplace to join the cause of Egypt’s prisoners of conscience
Contribute to local efforts that guarantee Alaa’s safety, freedom and return to his family and loved ones. If you live in the UK, write to your MP and request that they pressure James Cleverly, the UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Affairs, to demand Alaa’s immediate release
Human rights and civil society organizations, UN bodies, lawmakers, academics and activists are also demanding the immediate release of Alaa.
More than 300 organizations, including Climate Action Network International (CAN) and Greenpeace, and more than 800 individuals, including climate activist Greta Thunberg, signed the petition calling on Egyptian authorities to release journalists and political prisoners in the country ahead of COP27.
Egypt is hosting COP27, which will take place from 6-18 November 2022. Human Rights Watch declared that Egypt's hosting of COP27 comes after years of intensifying restrictions on human rights and environmental groups in the country, amounting to one of the harshest government clampdowns in decades.
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