RightsCon Community Calls for Urgent Release of Alaa Abd El-Fattah

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Last month saw digital rights organizations and social justice groups head to Taiwan for this year’s RightsCon conference on human rights in the digital age. During the conference, one prominent message was spoken loud and clear: Alaa Abd El-Fattah must be immediately released from illegal detention in Egypt.

“As Alaa’s mother, I thank you for your solidarity and ask you to not to give up until Alaa is out of prison.”

During the RightsCon opening ceremony, Access Now’s Executive Director, Alejandro Mayoral Baños, affirmed the urgency of Alaa’s situation in detention and called for Alaa’s freedom. The RightsCon community was also addressed by Alaa’s mother, mathematician Laila Soueif, who has been on hunger strike in London for 158 days. In a video highlighting Alaa’s work with digital rights and his role in this community, she stated: “As Alaa’s mother, I thank you for your solidarity and ask you to not to give up until Alaa is out of prison.” Laila was admitted to hospital the next day with dangerously low blood sugar, blood pressure and sodium levels.

The calls to #FreeAlaa and save Laila were again reaffirmed during the closing ceremony in a keynote by Sara Alsherif, Migrant Digital Justice Programme Manager at Open Rights Group and close friend of Alaa. Referencing Alaa’s early work as a digital activist, Alsherif said: “He understood that the fight for digital rights is at the core of the struggle for human rights and democracy.” She closed by remi

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