Letters from Alaa Abd el-Fattah reveal despair after hoping David Lammy would secure his release from Cairo jail

Alaa Abd el-Fattah, the British-Egyptian political dissident held in a Cairo jail for more than five years, has reached such a state of despair over the UK’s inability to secure his release that he has contemplated renouncing both his British and Egyptian citizenships, letters written by him reveal.

His family have given permission for some of his private letters to be published to show his situation and his concern for his 68-year-old mother, on hunger strike seeking his release.