Egyptian hunger striker stops drinking – British Prime Minister intervenes

For the COP27 climate conference in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt has cleaned up — with critics. One long-time prisoner is Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah. He has spent a quarter of his life behind bars – for his anti-government stance and for being one of the key figures in the Arab Spring that led to the overthrow of long-serving Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

El-Fattah went on a hunger strike in April to draw attention to him and tens of thousands of other activists, critics and journalists behind bars in Egypt.

In a letter to his family he recently announced that he would stop drinking from the start of the climate conference – and the Egyptian-British double citizen has now implemented this threat: according to his family, he has not drunk water since Sunday.

Rishi Sunak wants to campaign for el-Fattah

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Saturday that he wants to raise the el-Fattah case at the COP27 climate summit in Cairo. He wrote to el-Fattah’s sister, Sanaa Seif (who is currently in Sharm el-Sheikh), in a letter that the UK would use the summit to lobby for her brother’s release.

Sunak writes that the matter remains a priority for the British government and has been raised several times with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

sunak wrote:

Amnesty International director Agnes Callamard told reporters in Cairo on Sunday: “There’s not much time left, 72 hours at most.”

(yum)