Rishi Sunak has been urged to deliver on a promise to get jailed British writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah released from an Egyptian prison, where he has been denied access to a lawyer or the British consulate.
Monday will mark a year since the PM said he was “totally committed” to resolving the case of Alaa Abd el-Fattah, the pro-democracy writer who has spent most of the past 10 years in prison, accused of spreading false news.
The prime minister wrote to the family ahead of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, saying Alaa “remains a priority for the British government, both as a human rights defender and as a British national”.
The conference drew international condemnation of Alaa’s imprisonment, with US President Joe Biden using it to raise the case with Egypt’s authoritarian president, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
But Alaa’s sister Sanaa Seif said her brother “still languishes in prison”, and the British Consulate is still being refused access by Egyptian officials.
“It’s time for the prime minister to deliver on his promise, or to at least show that he’s trying,” Ms Seif told Sky News.
“That heart-warming and hopeful feeling back then, when I got a letter from the prime minister – it’s no longer there, because it’s been a year, nothing has happened.”
More on Alaa Abd El-fattah
Related Topics:
Image: Sanaa Seif, herself jailed in Egypt before moving to the UK, returned for COP27 to highlight her brother’s case. Pic: AP
Image: Pic: Freedom for Alaa Campaign
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: “Our priority remains securing consular access to Mr el-Fattah and his release. We continue to raise his case at the highest levels of the Egyptian Government.”
Sky News understands Foreign Secretary James Cleverly last raised the case with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on 18 September, and other ministers have also pressed Egyptian officials in the last year.
Advertisement
Although Alaa’s prison conditions have improved since COP27 – he is now allowed sunlight, time outside and a TV – he remains in prison with no legal or consular access.
“We feel ignored,” Ms Seif added, saying it seemed foreign office staff appeared rather to be “managing our rage, our frustration” than having a mandate to achieve much.
Richard Ratcliffe, who doggedly campaigned for six years for the release of his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from an Iranian prison, said it is “disappointing after an advocacy high point when a year later you realise nothing has moved”.
“It always means that the government hasn’t pushed that hard, and the family needs to find a new way to climb the priorities again.”
Ms Seif is ramping up campaigning this month, planning media interviews, a letter to the prime minister and a London event with writers’ charity PEN International.
But she fears the war in Gaza and “dehumanisation” of Arab people by politicians and the media will make it even harder to secure her brother’s release.
“The whole debate around whether we should be calling for a ceasefire or not basically means that these Palestinian civilian lives are not as worth saving as others,” she said.
“It’s making me question if [UK politicians] people will ever do any good for us because I’m also Arab.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:02
Sister fears brother will die in prison
Mr Ratcliffe said that during current conversations between the UK and Egypt about the war in Gaza, the UK is also “signalling to Egypt how much Alaa means to them”.
“For Alaa to come home soon, the UK needs to make him a priority in all those conversations. Clearly, that hasn’t happened this past year.”
Russell Brand has been charged with rape and two counts of sexual assault between 1999 and 2005.
The Metropolitan Police say the 50-year-old comedian, actor and author has also been charged with one count of oral rape and one count of indecent assault.
The charges relate to four women.
He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday 2 May.
Police have said Brand is accused of raping a woman in the Bournemouth area in 1999 and indecently assaulting a woman in the Westminster area of London in 2001.
He is also accused of orally raping and sexually assaulting a woman in Westminster in 2004.
The fourth charge alleges that a woman was sexually assaulted in Westminster between 2004 and 2005.
Police began investigating Brand, from Oxfordshire, in September 2023 after receiving a number of allegations.
The comedian has previously denied the accusations, and said all his sexual relationships were “absolutely always consensual”.
Met Police Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy, who is leading the investigation, said: “The women who have made reports continue to receive support from specially trained officers.
“The Met’s investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information, to come forward and speak with police.”
The last blast furnaces left operating in Britain could see their fate sealed within days, after their Chinese owners took the decision to cut off the crucial supply of ingredients keeping them running.
Jingye, the owner of British Steel in Scunthorpe, has, according to union representatives, cancelled future orders for the iron ore, coal and other raw materials needed to keep the furnaces running.
The upshot is that they may have to close next month – even sooner than the earliest date suggested for its closure.
The fate of the blast furnaces – the last two domestic sources of virgin steel, made from iron ore rather than recycled – is likely to be determined in a matter of days, with the Department for Business and Trade now actively pondering nationalisation.
The upshot is that even as Britain contends with a trade war across the Atlantic, it is now working against the clock to secure the future of steelmaking at Scunthorpe.
The talks between the government and Jingye broke down last week after the Chinese company, which bought British Steel out of receivership in 2020, rejected a £500m offer of public money to replace the existing furnaces with electric arc furnaces.
More on China
Related Topics:
The sum is the same one it offered to Tata Steel, which has shut down the other remaining UK blast furnaces in Port Talbot and is planning to build electric furnaces – which have far lower carbon emissions.
Image: These steel workers could soon be out of work
However, the owners argue that the amount is too little to justify extra investment at Scunthorpe, and said last week they were now consulting on the date of shutting both the blast furnaces and the attached steelworks.
Since British Steel is the main provider of steel rails to Network Rail – as well as other construction steels available from only a few sites in the world – the closure would leave the UK more reliant on imports for critical infrastructure sites.
However, since the site belongs to its Chinese owners, a decision to nationalise the site would involve radical steps government officials are wary of taking.
They also fear leaving taxpayers exposed to a potentially loss-making business for the long run.
The dilemma has been heightened by the sharp turn in geopolitical sentiment following Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The incipient trade war and threatened cut in American support to Europe have sparked fresh calls for countries to act urgently to secure their own supplies of critical materials, especially those used for defence and infrastructure.
Gareth Stace, head of UK Steel, the industry lobby group, said: “Talks seem to have broken down between government and British Steel.
“My advice to government is: please, Jonathan Reynolds, Business Secretary, get back round that negotiating table, thrash out a deal, and if a deal can’t be found in the next few days, then I fear for the very future of the sector, but also here for Scunthorpe steelworks.”
Prince Andrew’s efforts to make money from his Pitch@Palace project have been branded as a “crude attempt to enrich himself” at the expense of “unsuspecting tech founders”, as new documents may shed more light on what he and his team have been attempting to sell.
Today is the deadline for documents to be released relating to Prince Andrew‘s former senior adviser Dominic Hampshire and his interactions with the alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo.
In February, an immigration tribunal heard how the intelligence services had contacted Mr Hampshire about Mr Yang back in 2022. Mr Yang helped set up Pitch@Palace China, a branch of the duke’s scheme to help young entrepreneurs.
Image: The alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo, has links with Prince Andrew
Image: Yang Tengbo. Pic: Pitch@Palace
Judges banned Mr Yang from the UK, saying his association with a senior royal had made Prince Andrew “vulnerable” and posed a threat to national security. Mr Yang challenged that decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC).
Since that hearing, media organisations have applied for certain documents relating to the case and Mr Hampshire’s support for Mr Yang to be made public. SIAC agreed to release some information of public interest. It is hoped they may include more details on deals that he was trying to do on behalf of Prince Andrew.
So what do we know about potential deals for Pitch@Palace so far?
In February, Sky News confirmed that palace officials had a meeting last summer with tech funding company StartupBootcamp to discuss a potential tie-up between them and Prince Andrew relating to his Pitch@Palace project.
More on Prince Andrew
Related Topics:
The palace wasn’t involved in the fine details of a deal but wanted guarantees to make sure it wouldn’t impact the Royal Family in the future. Sky News understands from one source that the price being discussed for Pitch was around £750,000 – there are, however, reports that a deal may have stalled.
Photos we found on the Chinese Chamber of Commerce website show an event held in Asia between StartupBootcamp and Innovate Global, believed to be an offshoot of Pitch.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:08
Who is alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo?
Documents, released in relation to the investigations into Mr Tengbo, have also shown how much the duke has always seen Pitch as a way of potentially making money. One document from 21 August 2021 clearly states “the duke needed money at the time, and saw the relationships with China through Pitch as one possible source of funding”.
But Prince Andrew’s apparent intention to use Pitch to make money has led to concerns about whether he is unfairly using the contacts and information he gained when he was a working royal.
Norman Baker, former MP and author of books on royal finances, believes it is “a crude attempt to enrich himself” and goes against what the tech entrepreneurs thought they were signing up for.
He told Sky News: “The data given by these business people was given on the basis it was an official operation and not something for Prince Andrew, and so in my view, Prince Andrew had no right legally or morally to take the data which has been collected, a huge amount of data, and sell it…
“And quite clearly if you’re going to sell it off to StartupBootcamp, that is not what people had in mind. The entrepreneurs who joined Pitch@Palace did not do so to enrich Prince Andrew,” he said.
Rich Wilson was one tech entrepreneur who was approached at the start of Pitch@Palace to sign up, but he stepped away when he spotted a clause in the contract saying they’d be entitled to 2% equity in any funding he secured.
He feels Prince Andrew is continuing to use those he made a show of supporting.
He said: “It makes me feel sick. I think it’s terrible – that he is continuing to exploit unsuspecting tech founders in this way. A lot of them, I’m quite grey and old in the tooth now, I saw it coming, but clearly most didn’t. And a lot of them were quite young.
“It’ll be their first venture and you’re learning on the trot, so to speak. So to take advantage of people in such a major way – that’s an awful, sickening thing to do.”
We approached StartupBootcamp who said they had no comment to make, and the Duke of York’s office did not respond.
With reports that a deal may have stalled, it could be a big setback for the duke – especially with questions still about how he’ll continue to pay for his home on the Windsor estate now that the King no longer gives him financial support.