The drumbeat of stories in the global press condemning Egypt’s human rights track record gained speed yesterday, with celebrities joining the United Nations and media outlets in their criticism.

Woody Allen among 120 writers asking El Sisi to free Ahmed Naji: Woody Allen, Margaret Atwood, J. M. Coetzee, Jessica Hagedorn, David Henry Hwang and Orhan Pamuk were among at least 120 writers and artists to sign a letter sent to President Abdel Fattah El Sisi urging him to release writer Ahmed Naji, according to the New York Times. The letter was sent by freedom of expression advocacy group PEN America ahead of its annual Literary Gala in New York on 16 of May when Naji will be given the group’s annual Freedom to Write award. “Writing is not a crime,” reads the letter, calling the sentencing “emblematic of the Egyptian government’s deeply troubling crackdown on free expression.” Naji was sentenced to two years in prison in February for “violating public morals” with passages he wrote in his novel “A Guide for Using Life.”

Three UN human rights advocates on Monday called on Egypt to end “disproportionate reactions” against the rights to assembly and expression. “Security concerns should not be used as a pretext to harass journalists, lawyers and protestorsand ban peaceful political opposition, which will undermine not only public debate and fundamental rights, but security and long-term stability,” said the UN Special Rapporteurs on freedom of expression, David Kaye; on freedom of peaceful assembly and association, Maina Kiai; and on human rights defenders, Michel Forst. The experts condemned what they characterized as a harsh response to protesters, the jailing of journalists, lawyers, and human rights defenders, and the storming of the Press Syndicate.

Meanwhile, Curt Goering, Executive Director of the Center for Victims of Torture is calling on the US government to take a harsher stand against Egypt’s human rights violations, according to a piece in the Huffington Post. “The U.S. should press harder for an end to the crackdown, which has included dropping probes into NGOs’ funding from foreign sources, potential travel bans on activists, asset freezes and harassment of human rights activists. A timid response will only encourage an even harsher clampdown.”

The International Press Institute said on Monday: “The death sentences that an Egypt court recently recommended for three journalists in absentia are unjust and must not be allowed to stand.” Egypt sentenced two Al Jazeera journalists and four others to death in an espionage case on Saturday, we reported on Sunday. “We urge Egyptian officials not to approve or seek to implement these sentences and we call on other countries not to honour them. Journalism is not a crime and journalists should not face abuse, harassment or intimidation, much less the threat of state-sanctioned execution.”

The memo leak from the Interior Ministry continues to feature in the international press, ultimately becoming the cherry on top of a list of PR failures and systemic “incompetence” writes Mohamed Elmasry for Al Jazeera. The article highlights the Giulio Regeni case, the raid on the Press Syndicate, and the three-year-old toddler sentenced to life in prison for crimes allegedly committed when he was 17 months old.