Hi,

This is Sanaa, Alaa’s younger sister writing. I’m sorry it’s been so long since the last update. There’s just been so much to take in and we are so busy trying to work on as many fronts as we can. 

The main news is that, as of yesterday, I’ve started a sit-in outside the Foreign Office in London. I feel like we have completely run out of options, and even though the government has been telling us for ten months now that they are raising Alaa's case, and that my brother is a priority - nothing is working. And now with just twenty days until Egypt hosts the COP27 climate conference, we really need to focus everything we can on getting him out. 

So, I’m here now, writing to you from inside my tent. It’s a bit cold, but already so many people have come to say hello since yesterday. David Lammy came yesterday, and made a strong statement. This morning, Richard Ratcliffe - Nazanin’s husband - came over and brought some advice and some painted pebbles from when he did his sit-in for his wife here a few months ago. Layla Moran and Vicky Foxcroft, two more MPs who have been really supportive, came and said hello.

We’re doing whatever we can to get James Cleverly, the new Foreign Minister, to finish the job that the government says it’s been working on for months. He himself said back in May that he was urgently seeking consular access. And we still believe that if he were determined to do it, Alaa would be freed. Instead, the news we hear is of new investments being made. Britain is the biggest investor in Egypt: it’s just signed preliminary deals for £9bn in new green investments.

My mother saw Alaa a few days ago. He was so frail he could hardly stand without leaning on the counter between us for support, but his mind was sharp and he spoke quickly and passionately and I have had important letters from him. As we sit over the coming days I’ll choose some parts to share with you. For now, I just didn’t want to let any more time pass without updating on where we are.

People are always kind enough to be asking for ways they can help, so our ideas right now are:

1. As always, it really really helps to write to your MP. It makes a huge difference. And you can tell them that we’re preparing a letter for the Foreign Secretary through Vicky Foxcroft MP’s office if they’d like to sign on. 
2. If you’re in London and would like to come over and say hello at the sit-in it would be lovely to meet and spend a few minutes together. Since we think COP27 is such an important milestone we’re asking if people can bring a little potted plant, or some kind of similar decoration to make the place feel like home and stand out to the people walking past, and working in the buildings around us. This is the location. 
   
   
3. There's a new Minister for North Africa, Gillian Keegan (Chichester). It was positive that her first tweet about Egypt mentioned Alaa's case - so any online encouragement for her would be useful. And if you know anyone that lives in Chichester, please do ask them to send her a message.

Speaking of COP27, Naomi Klein wrote an excellent piece about COP27 and the moral crises that Egypt’s hosting throws up.

Also, there are literary events around Alaa’s book coming up in Brussels, Berlin and Frankfurt in the next 2-3 days - we’ve collected the links here.

OK I’ll sign off for now, but will try and post more regularly. Thank you again for all your support.