[Localization] Update on Alaa Abd El Fattah

[Chris Leonard]

Dear Localizers,

There is some bad news, it appears that Alaa's appeal was denied.

Alaa writes from prison
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/nov/02/egypt-revolution-back-mubarak-jails

More background from the Committee to Protect Journalists
https://www.cpj.org/2011/10/egyptian-military-officials-jail-blogger-who-criti.php

If you are a twitter user, please tweet your support wit hthe hastag
#freealaa.
http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=%23FreeAlaa

I have been making noise in the US for Alaa. I spoke to my congresswoman's
office, they were both polite and interested.  One of my senator's offices
was polite, but I could tell that they were not particularly interested,
they were only pay lip service to listening to me, I will be reaching out
to the other senator soon.

I contacted the US State Dept.  I had a good conversation with the head of
the Egypt desk.  I am confident that they are well aware of Alaa's
situation.

FWIW, there have been some statements from the administration, although
they are not entirely satisfactory, in my opinion.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/10/24/readout-president-s-call-egyptian-field-marshal-tantawi

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/10/175236.htm

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/10/10/statement-press-secretary-violence-egypt

I also called the Egyptian Embassy Defense office in DC.

I tried to explain to them that the 1.3 Billion in military aid looked like
a tempting budget cutting target, especially of the Republicans found out
that the SCAF was actively suppressing a Christian minority.

Please contact the Egyptian Embassy in your country and ask them to live up
to their obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  Let them know
that they must free Alla Abd El Fattah and their other political prisoners
immediately and emphasize that the world is watching.\

cjl
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/localization/attachments/20111104/83c05e62/attachment.html>