Advocacy / Egypt
Urgent Appeal to the UK Prime Minister: Act to free Alaa Abd el-Fattah
On May 21, 2025, MENA Rights Group joined 33 human rights organisations in sending an urgent letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer KC, urging immediate action for the release of British-Egyptian political prisoner Alaa Abd el-Fattah.Alaa completed his unjust prison sentence in Egypt in September 2024, yet remains arbitrarily detained. His mother, Laila Soueif, has been on a hunger strike for nearly eight months in protest, after years of exercising every other option available trying to free Alaa. The letter highlights:
UN Event Highlights Human Rights Abuses in MENA Region Under the Guise of Counter-Terrorism
On the sidelines of the 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council, MENA Rights Group co-organised a side event bringing together civil society actors and the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism to discuss concerning trends of counter-terrorism abuse and its negative impact on human rights across the MENA region.
Joint statement: The blocking of Zawia 3 is a serious escalation in Egypt’s restrictions on press freedom
MENA Rights Group joins 30+ organisations in condemning the Egyptian authorities' decision to block the independent media platform Zawia 3, amidst a broader pattern of restrictions on press freedom and digital rights in Egypt.
Open letter to UK Foreign Secretary: statement on human rights crisis in Egypt at the UN HRC
MENA Rights Group joins a coalition of 25 UK, Egyptian and international organisations in urging British Foreign Secretary David Lammy to use the UN Human Rights Council to draw attention to the pronounced human rights crisis in Egypt. Doing so would support arbitrarily imprisoned British-Egyptian national Alaa Abd el-Fattah, the groups said.
Urgent appeal to end the enforced disappearance of poet Abdulrahman Yusuf al-Qaradawi and calling for his release
MENA Rights Group joins 40+ human rights organisations in urging UAE authorities to clarify the whereabouts of Abdulrahman al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian-Turkish poet who was recently extradited from Lebanon to the UAE, where he remains forcibly disappeared. The letter calls on the authorities to release him and guarantee his safe return to Turkey.
Joint letter to US State Secretary: help secure the release of Ahmed Kamel
In a joint letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, MENA Rights Group joins partner organisations in urging US authorities to help secure the release of Ahmed Kamel, an Egyptian national detained in Saudi Arabia who faces imminent extradition to Egypt.
Open letter to Royal Jet: do not enable the extradition of Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi
MENA Rights Group sent a letter to Royal Jet expressing concern regarding the company's possible involvement in the unlawful extradition of Turkish-Egyptian dissident Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi.
Call for the immediate release of poet Abdel Rahman Youssef
MENA Rights Group joins 500+ signatories in urging Lebanese authorities to immediately release poet Abdel Rahman Youssef Al-Qaradawi and to not extradite him to Egypt, where he risks human rights abuses.
Civil society, UN Special Rapporteur alarmed about transnational repression in the MENA region
During an event at the UN Headquarters in New York, civil society organisations and the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism raised their concerns regarding the troubling pattern of transnational repression in the MENA region.