As Alaa Abdel-Fattah and his mother wither away, the UK's moral clarity collapses in silence

"This is not just a family tragedy — it’s a political crisis and a moral failure of the international community." That’s the only way to describe the ongoing detention of Alaa Abdel-Fattah, the British-Egyptian writer and democracy activist who has spent most of the last decade behind bars in Egypt.

Alaa has committed no crime — unless sharing a Facebook post about torture, or dreaming publicly of political freedom, counts as one. His continued imprisonment — despite a UN ruling that it is unlawful — is not just an individual injustice.

It is part of a much wider collapse in the enforcement of international law, one playing out today in both Egyptian prisons and the devastated hospitals of Gaza.

In May 2025, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued a damning report concluding that Alaa’s detention violates multiple provisions of international law.

He was arrested in 2019, held without trial, and later sentenced to five years in prison for "spreading false news" — a charge stemming from a social media post. Even that politically motivated sentence should have expired in September 2024, but Egyptian authorities have retroactively altered the dates, now claiming he will be held until 2027.

Alaa is not only being held unlawfully — he is being slowly erased. His prison conditions are abusive. He has been denied books, sunlight, and consular access. And now, his mother, the renowned mathematician and human rights defender Professor Laila Soueif, is risking her life to stop that from happening.

Laila has been on hunger strike for over 240 days. She began on the day Alaa was supposed to be released. Now gravely ill and recently hospitalised in London, she is refusing food entirely — a last, desperate act to force the British government to defend its own citizen.

As a doctor, I can say plainly: her survival to this point defies medical explanation.

After months of near-starvation, the human body begins to cannibalise itself — breaking down heart muscle, wasting the liver, eroding immune function. The slightest trigger — a drop in blood sugar, a fever, an infection — could now be fatal.

A hunger strike is not suicide. It is the final, courageous weapon of those who have been ignored and dehumanised. Laila’s body has become her battleground because the avenues of diplomacy, justice, and accountability have all failed her.

Like Alaa, international law is being erased in real time

And they have failed many others. The same governments that have kept silent about Alaa’s torture have also enabled the destruction of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure.

In both cases, the failure is not just legal — it is moral. Since October, Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza has killed over 50,000 people - at least 1400 of whom are healthcare workers - destroyed more than 36 of its hospitals, and systematically targeted schools, ambulances, and even those trying to flee or secure aid. These are not unfortunate collateral tragedies. They are evidence of a pattern — one that violates the Geneva Conventions and every core tenet of international humanitarian law.

The same systems that jail Alaa and threaten Laila’s life are propped up by the same international silence that has enabled the bombing of mosques, schools, and UN shelters in Gaza. If the UK government refuses to act when its own citizen is arbitrarily detained and tortured, why would we expect it to uphold the rights of a people it does not even consider its responsibility?

As a dual British-Egyptian citizen, this is not abstract for me. I am proud of both my identities, but cases like Alaa’s force people like me to make impossible choices.

I have spent my career as a paediatrician and medical researcher, but also as an advocate for Palestinian health workers and the right to life in Gaza. I have travelled regularly to Gaza over the past decade, working alongside local clinicians in some of the most difficult conditions imaginable. I now ask myself: could I one day face the same threats? Could my speech be criminalised? My travel restricted? My family made to suffer?

British foreign policy today is defined by double standards. The government has condemned Hamas and called for humanitarian pauses, but continues to license arms to Israel and maintain a warm alliance with the Sisi regime in Egypt.

When prominent activists and global human rights defenders like Alaa are abandoned in dark cells, and medical professionals in Gaza are bombed with impunity, the message is clear: the rules-based international order is negotiable. That is a message that emboldens impunity everywhere.

Alaa’s imprisonment sends a chilling message to every dual national who dares speak out, especially on Palestine. It tells us that our citizenship is conditional. That our rights depend not on principle, but on politics. That if we are detained or tortured abroad, we may not be defended.

It’s also worth asking: what does British citizenship actually mean? If a British national can be tortured and detained without trial, and the government responds with little more than whispered concern behind closed doors, how many others will be left unprotected when their rights are stripped away? Alaa’s case is a test — not only of the UK’s commitment to its citizens, but of whether we will allow basic rights to be contingent on race, politics, or geopolitics.

This is why Laila’s hunger strike matters so profoundly. It is not only a mother’s desperate plea. It is a call to moral clarity. When she refuses food, she is refusing complicity, from Cairo to London. Her protest mirrors the suffering of others, from Gaza’s doctors performing surgery without anaesthesia, to the families still searching for loved ones under the rubble.

We must be honest about what this moment demands. Alaa must be released. Laila must be protected. And the UK must stop treating these cases as diplomatic inconveniences. We are not bystanders to these crises — we are implicated in them.

International law is not a luxury. It is the last defence of the vulnerable — and it is being dismantled in real time. The question is not just whether Alaa or Laila will survive. It is whether our values will.

Dr Omar Abdel-Mannan is a British-Egyptian paediatric neurologist based in London. Since 2011, he has participated in numerous medical and teaching delegations to Gaza and the West Bank. He is the founder and president of Health Workers 4 Palestine, a global grassroots movement of health professionals and allies advocating for the right to health and the end of the illegal occupation of Palestine.

Follow Omar on Instagram: @dr.omar.am

Have questions or comments? Email us at: editorial-english@newarab.com

Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.