LONDON (AP) — Rights groups and the family of convicted Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah on Thursday called on authorities to release him at the end of his five-year sentence next week.
Abdel-Fattah, an outspoken dissident, rose to prominence with the 2011 pro-democracy uprisings that swept the Middle East and in Egypt toppled long-time President Hosni Mubarak. The 42-year old activist spent most of the past decade behind bars and his detention has become a symbol of Egypt’s return to autocratic rule under President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.
He was first sentenced in 2014 after being convicted of taking part in an unauthorized protest and allegedly assaulting a police officer. He was released in 2019 after serving a five-year term but was rearrested later that year in a crackdown that followed rare anti-government protests.
In late 2021, Abdel-Fattah was sentenced to five years after being convicted of spreading false news.
But his release at the end of that term is not assured as he still faces other charges in Egypt, including allegations of misusing social medial and joining a terrorist group — a reference to the banned Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group that authorities declared a terrorist organization in 2013.
More than 59 Egyptian and international rights groups signed the appeal, expressing concern at Abdel-Fattah, who obtained a U.K.-passport in 2022, could not be released for years into the future.
In the statement, the groups "expressed their deep alarm at news, shared by his lawyer, that the Egyptian authorities do not plan to release Alaa until January 2027.” The statement did not say how the lawyer obtained this information.
They warned that not releasing Abdel-Fattah on Sunday would violate the country's penal code, which deducts time spent in detention before trial from the total sentence.
An Egyptian government media officer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Abdel-Fattah's lawyer could also not be reached for clarification.
Abdel-Fattah and his family have campaigned for his release for years. In 2022, he intensified a hunger strike in prison and halted all calories and water to coincide with the start of the U.N. climate conference, known as COP27, in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Concerns for his health intensified as the family was barred from seeing him. They stepped up their campaign to draw attention to his case and those of other political prisoners in Egypt. He stopped the strike after a matter of days, after he collapsed and fell unconscious, describing it later in a letter to his family.
The hunger strike drew attention to Egypt’s heavy suppression of speech and political activity. Since 2013, el-Sissi’s government has cracked down on dissidents and critics, jailing thousands, virtually banning protests and monitoring social media. Human Rights Watch estimated in 2019 that as many as 60,000 political prisoners are incarcerated in Egyptian prisons.
At a London news conference on Thursday, Abdel-Fattah's sisters Sanaa and Mona, called on British authorities to press for their brother's release.
Each day after Sept. 29 that Abdel-Fattah spends behind bars is a "grave atrocity on top of everything else he has had to endure,” said Mona Seif, according to a statement released by the family.
FILE - Egypt's leading pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah speaks during a conference at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, Sept. 22, 2014. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File)
BEIJING (AP) — Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Friday welcomed Chinese efforts to stimulate its slowing economy, noting that its recent weakness has hurt Australia.
Chalmers was wrapping up a two-day visit to Beijing, the first to China by an Australian treasurer in seven years, as strained bilateral relations mend.
He told reporters that Australia’s economy was slowing because of global economic uncertainty, high interest rates and China’s slowdown.
“Those three things are combining to slow our own economy considerably and when steps are taken here to boost economic activity and to boost growth in the Chinese economy, subject to the details that will be released in good time, we see that as a very, very good development for Australia,” Chalmers said.
China is the biggest buyer of Australia’s most lucrative exports: iron ore and coal.
“Our resilience and prosperity are closely connected to China’s economy and the global economy,” Chalmers wrote in an opinion piece published Friday in The Australian newspaper. He noted that his department forecasts Chinese annual economic growth at below 5% for the next three years, the weakest expansion since the late 1970s.
While in Beijing the two sides held meetings for the Australia-China Strategic Economic Dialogue, reviving the once annual talks aimed at growing trade and investment after a seven-year hiatus.
In 2020, China introduced a series of official and unofficial trade bans on Australian commodities, including coal, that cost Australian exporters more than 20 billion Australian dollars ($14 billion) a year.
Such “trade impediments” now cost Australian exporters less than AU$1 billion ($690 million) a year, Chalmers says.
At the outset of Thursday's meetings, Zheng Shanjie, chair of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, noted how relations had improved since Chalmers’ center-left Labor Party government was elected in 2020, ending nine years of conservative rule in Australia.
“Our development represents opportunities rather than challenges with each other,” Zheng said through an interpreter.
“At a time when the international situation is intricate and turbulent, it is of great significance for both countries to discuss economic development and cooperation opportunities together,” Zheng added.
Two-way bilateral trade reached a record AU$327 billion ($225 billion) last year, more than double its value when a free trade deal was struck in 2015.
During his visit, Chalmers was expected to raise with the Chinese restrictions on imports of Australian lobsters and red meat from two Australian processors.
China was expected to raise concerns about Australian foreign investment rules.
China wants to invest in Australian critical minerals, but Australia shares U.S. concerns over China’s global dominance in critical minerals and control over supply chains in the renewable energy sector.
Citing Australia’s national interests, Chalmers recently ordered five Chinese-linked companies to divest their shares in the rare earth mining company Northern Minerals.
China has been grappling with a lagging economy post-COVID, with weak consumer demand, persistent deflationary pressures and a contraction in factory activity.
Earlier this week, China announced a series of new measures to boost the economy and revive its ailing property sector. The central bank lowered bank reserve requirements by 0.5% as of Friday. It also has slashed interest rates on its loans to commercial banks and lowered the minimum down payments for some mortgages.
Unconfirmed reports Thursday by the South China Morning Post and Bloomberg said the government plans to spend about 1 trillion yuan ($142 billion) on recapitalizing six big state-owned banks.
While China is growing economically closer to Australia, Beijing is becoming militarily more belligerent in the Asia-Paficic region.
On security issues, Chalmers said he raised in his discussions a Chinese aircraft carrier accompanied by two destroyers entering an area near Japan’s shores for the first time last week.
He also raised international concerns over China test-firing an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean this week.
“I was able to reiterate in the meetings yesterday afternoon our expectations of safe and professional conduct of all militaries operating in our region,” Chalmers said.
“But as you would expect, the overwhelming focus of our discussions here have been the economy,” he added.
McGuirk contributed from Melbourne, Australia.
FILE - Australian Finance Minister Jim Chalmers sits for an interview during the G-20 third Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBGs) meeting in Gandhinagar, India, Tuesday, July 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)
