The family of a jailed Egyptian dissident has expressed renewed fears for his life as his health worsens more than 50 days after he went on hunger strike.
Prominent government critic Alaa Abd El-Fattah, a 42-year-old dual Egyptian British citizen, has remained in prison despite completing his sentence last September, according to his family, which has appealed to the UK prime minister to help secure his release.
The activist’s health has deteriorated since he began his third full-scale hunger strike in less than two years on March 1 in solidarity with his mother’s own partial hunger strike to call for his release, his family said in a statement on Facebook Tuesday.
Abd El-Fattah has suffered from vomiting, stomach flu and severe fatigue. He has been diagnosed with chronic inflammation of the esophagus and his body is rejecting previously prescribed medication because of his prolonged hunger strike, according to the statement.
His mother, Laila Soueif, “expressed her deep concern for her son and his health, saying he could not bear the strike. She renewed her demand for his release,” the statement said.
Abd El-Fattah’s more than decade-long imprisonment has long drawn international condemnation.
Arrested repeatedly since the height of the Egyptian uprising in 2011, he was sentenced in 2021 to an additional five years in prison for spreading false news and assaulting a police officer – charges that human rights organizations say were politically motivated.
Amnesty International says Abd El-Fattah is a political prisoner who remains imprisoned in “arbitrary” detention, according to a statement from the rights group in February.
Abd El-Fattah was granted British citizenship in 2022, through his British-born mother, in what his family said was part of the campaign for his release and to shed light on the struggle of his fellow inmates.
On Tuesday, his sister Sanaa Seif issued an urgent plea to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to raise his case with Egyptian authorities.
“I’m always afraid that we are on the verge of a tragedy. We need Keir Starmer to do all he can to bring Alaa home to us,” she said.
Starmer, who met with the jailed activist’s mother in February, previously vowed to “do all that I can to secure (Alaa’s) release.”
In 2022, then-UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak raised the activist’s case during a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on the sidelines of the COP27 climate summit, a Downing Street spokesperson said at the time.
Sisi, a former military general, has long faced criticism for cracking down on dissent, imprisoning activists, journalists, and opposition figures since he came to power in 2014.
Abd El-Fattah’s mother launched her own hunger strike last September to demand her son’s release.
She was hospitalized in February on her 149th day of protest after her blood sugar, blood pressure, and sodium levels plummeted to critical lows. Abd El-Fattah escalated his protest following her hospitalization, according to relatives.