LondoncTypeface:> The mother of a British-Egyptian pro-democracy writer jailed in Egypt has started a hunger strike, saying: "I will not eat again until Alaa is released.” Alaa Abd El-Fattah, 42, has been detained since September 29, 2019 and in December 2021 was sentenced to five years in prison after being accused of spreading false news.
The Free Alaa campaign said he should have been released on Sunday and Laila Soueif, 68, has started a hunger strike in protest at her son’s continued imprisonment in Egypt. Soueif will not eat food and will drink only water with salt to regulate her blood pressure. The campaign added family members are due to meet UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Wednesday to urge him to help secure Abd El-Fattah’s release from prison and return to the UK.
Abd El-Fattah has spent most of the past decade in prison because of his criticism of Egypt’s rulers and is unable to see his young son who lives in Brighton. Soueif, who was born in London and lives in Cairo, said: "I will not eat again until Alaa is released. Every day that he is in prison beyond his sentence is a grave injustice, even beyond the terrible injustice that he has been imprisoned at all.
"Once again the Egyptian authorities have violated their own laws to persecute my son. At this stage I consider this a kidnapping as well as unlawful detention. Alaa is a British citizen, and it is urgent that the UK Government intervene now to stop this new violation of his human rights.” (PA Media/dpa)