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In a powerful video Succession star Brian Cox called on Keir Starmer to ‘pick up the phone’ and help bring British citizen Alaa Abd el-Fattah back to his family in the UK
Brian Cox calls on Keir Starmer to help free Alaa Abd El-Fattah
Succession star Brian Cox has pleaded with Keir Starmer to “pick up the phone” and help bring a wrongly imprisoned British citizen back to his family for Christmas.
In a powerful message the actor, who won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of tycoon Logan Roy, called on the PM to secure Alaa Abd el-Fattah’s release. Alaa’s 68-year-old mother Laila Soueif is currently on hunger strike, with fears growing for her health.
The activist is still languishing in an Egyptian jail even though his sentence ended in September. Mr Cox said in a video to the PM: “You and I know a thing or two about power and how to use it to get the job done. It’s time to make the call, Prime Minister, pick up the phone and bring Alaa home for Christmas. We’re counting on you.”
Blogger and software developer Alaa, 43, should have been released on September 29 after serving a spurious five year sentence for “spreading fake news”. The pro-democracy activist had previously been jailed for organising a political protest without permission.
Mr Cox said: “After a decade of tireless efforts to free her son, Aala’s mother Laila began a hunger strike which is now entering its third month. She’s putting her own life in danger so that her son might finally be able to see his own boy again and live a free life once more in peace and dignity.
“Why am I addressing you, Prime Minister? Because you’re the only one who can make this happen.”
Brave Laila is delivering notes with her medical vitals on them to remind Foreign Secretary that “time is running out” to secure Alaa’s release. She said: “Alaa has a son, a 13 year old son who’s missed ten years of being with his father, and he needs his father. We need this to end.
“As a mother, it’s my job to free Alaa. And because he’s a British citizen, as well as an Egyptian citizen, it is their joint responsibility to protect Alaa’s wellbeing and his life, so I’m holding both governments to this responsibility.”
She called on the PM to get in touch with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, telling him: “Mr Starmer, please make a phone call to President Sisi to bring Alaa here to England, where he can be united with his son, where he can be united with his sister who’s settled in England and has a daughter. Where we can all be united. Please bring Alaa home.”
A Foreign Office spokesman told The Mirror: “Our priority remains securing the release of Mr El-Fattah so he can be reunited with his family. We continue to raise his case at the highest levels of the Egyptian Government.
“The Foreign Secretary has raised Mr El-Fattah’s case with Egyptian Foreign Minister Abdelatty on multiple occasions, most recently on 20 December, and the Minister for Development raised it with Foreign Minister Abdelatty just earlier this month.”
