Peter Greste Launches Hunger Strike in Support of Jailed Activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah

Australian journalist Peter Greste has begun a 21-day hunger strike outside the UK Foreign Office in London to demand the release of Alaa Abd el-Fattah, a British-Egyptian activist and writer imprisoned in Egypt. Greste, who was himself jailed in Egypt in 2013 while reporting for Al Jazeera, said he owes his life to Alaa, referencing the solidarity shown to him by the Egyptian activist during their shared time in Tora Prison.

Alaa, a prominent voice during the 2011 Egyptian revolution, was re-arrested in 2019 and sentenced in 2021 to five years in prison for allegedly spreading false news about torture in Egyptian jails. Despite serving over two years in pre-trial detention before his sentencing, Egyptian authorities have refused to credit this time, extending his imprisonment to at least 2027.

Greste’s hunger strike coincides with that of Laila Soueif, Alaa’s mother, who has been refusing food since September 2024. Now over 240 days into her protest, she has been hospitalized with dangerously low blood sugar levels and continues to reject medical treatment. Both strikes aim to pressure the UK government, under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, to take decisive action to secure Alaa’s release and ensure consular access.

International organizations, including Amnesty International, English PEN, and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, have all declared Alaa’s imprisonment unlawful and politically motivated. Despite widespread calls from human rights groups and British MPs, the UK government has yet to take substantial diplomatic measures against Egypt.

Greste emphasized that this is not just about one man, but about protecting the principles of press freedom, human rights, and the responsibility of democratic governments to defend their citizens, especially dual nationals unjustly detained abroad.