US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Thursday for Egypt to free political prisoners as leaders prepare to visit for the global climate summit.

Rights groups estimate that some 60,000 political prisoners are behind bars in Egypt, which starting next week will welcome more than 90 world leaders including President Joe Biden for COP27.

In a call with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Blinken discussed climate and said that US-Egypt cooperation "is strengthened by tangible progress on human rights," the State Department said.

Blinken "welcomed the reported releases over the preceding months of significant numbers of political detainees, and voiced support for additional such pardons and releases, as well as for steps to strengthen due process of law and protections for fundamental freedoms for all," it said.

The statement did not list specific cases but pressure has risen for intervention to free Alaa Abdel Fattah, a prominent dissident who has started a hunger strike and whose family has warned he could die if he is not released during the climate summit.

A major figure in the 2011 revolt that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak, Abdel Fattah is serving a five-year sentence for "broadcasting false news," having already spent much of the past decade behind bars.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said ahead of Blinken's phone call that the United States was closely following Abdel Fattah's plight.

"We've raised repeated concerns about this case and his conditions in detention with the government of Egypt," Price told reporters Wednesday.

Biden took office vowing a firmer stance on human rights with Egypt and other Arab allies but his administration has repeatedly turned to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former general who toppled the elected government in 2013.

Biden is expected to meet Sisi at the climate summit in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and his administration last year relied on Egyptian mediation to end fighting between Israel and the Palestinian militants Hamas.

A group of US lawmakers concerned about human rights in Egypt called Thursday for Biden to redirect its $1.3 billion in annual military aid to Egypt to climate projects in the parched country.

"We are deeply committed to the fight against climate change, and believe international cooperation is central to that effort, but Egypt was the wrong choice for COP27," said the statement led by Democratic Representatives Don Beyer and Tom Malinowski.

Family of jailed Egypt dissident warn he could die during climate meet
London (AFP) Nov 3, 2022 - The family of jailed dissident Alaa Abdel Fattah on Thursday called on British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to intervene in his case when he attends the COP27 climate summit in Egypt next week.

Abdel Fattah is on hunger strike and his relatives warned that if he is not released during the summit, he will probably die in prison as he is due to stop drinking fluids from Sunday, the opening day of COP27.

A major figure in the 2011 revolt that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak, Abdel Fattah is currently serving a five-year sentence for "broadcasting false news", having already spent much of the past decade behind bars.

He gained British citizenship in prison in April through his UK-born mother.

Cairo has faced frequent criticism of its human rights record since it was announced as the host of the COP27 climate summit last year, a move rights groups said "rewards the repressive rule" of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

"I want to call on Rishi Sunak to intervene," one of Abdel Fattah's sisters, Sanaa Seif, told reporters in London on Thursday.

"You're going to see Sisi... and if you don't show that you care, it would be interpreted as a green light to kill him," she said.

Sanaa said the family had received a call from Britain's Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on Wednesday and on Thursday met junior foreign minister Tariq Ahmad.

Another sister, Mona Seif, added that if their brother was not freed during the climate conference it was almost certain he "is going to die in prison".

The activist has only been consuming 100 calories a day in the form of a spoonful of honey and a drop of milk in tea and would begin a dry hunger strike from Sunday, she said.

In an open letter published on Wednesday, 15 Nobel laureates called on Egypt to release Abdel Fattah.

Among the 13 Nobel Prize in Literature laureates who signed the letter are J. M. Coetzee, Louise Gluck, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Kazuo Ishiguro, Herta Muller, Orhan Pamuk and Wole Soyinka, according to British publishing house Fitzcarraldo Editions.

More than 90 heads of state and government are set to attend the November 6-18 summit in the resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh.

Rights group estimate that some 60,000 political prisoners are behind bars in Egypt, many of them in brutal conditions and overcrowded cells, accusations that Cairo rejects.

Related Links
Democracy in the 21st century at TerraDaily.com

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Nobel laureates urge Egypt to release jailed dissident
Cairo (AFP) Nov 2, 2022
Fifteen Nobel laureates called on COP27 host Egypt to release jailed dissident Alaa Abdel Fattah, in an open letter published Wednesday ahead of the global climate summit. Abdel Fattah, a major figure in the 2011 revolt that toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak, is currently serving a five-year sentence for "broadcasting false news", having already spent much of the past decade behind bars. Among the 13 Nobel Prize in Literature laureates who signed the letter are J. M. Coetzee, Louise Gluck ... read more