Latest news with #AlaaAbdelFattah
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Mother of jailed British Egyptian activist vows to continue hunger strike despite risk of death
Laila Soueif's body is becoming weaker and weaker. Doctors have warned her that - after eight months on hunger strike - she's now at risk of sudden death. But the strength of her resolve has not diminished at all. Speaking to the BBC from St Thomas' hospital in London, the 69-year-old British-Egyptian maths professor says that she "passionately" wants to live. But she told the Today programme that she was prepared to die if that was what it took to get her son Alaa Abdel Fattah - Egypt's most prominent political prisoner - out of jail in Cairo. Calling on UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his government to find a way to get Egypt to release him, she says she believes she has "no other choice" but to continue to refuse calories. Jailed activist's mother in hospital after resuming hunger strike Mother on hunger strike asks PM for help to free her son Mother of British-Egyptian political prisoner goes on hunger strike Alaa Abdel Fattah - who is also a British-Egyptian dual national - played a prominent role in pro-democracy protests in Egypt in 2011 and has been in prison almost continuously since 2014. His latest five-year sentence was imposed after he shared a Facebook post about a prisoner dying after torture. Laila Soueif went on hunger strike in September 2024 - when her son's sentence should have ended. The Egyptian authorities refused to count the more than two years he spent in pre-trial detention towards his time served. And his family fear he is being used to set an example, and will never be freed. "He finished his sentence for God's sake. It was an unfair sentence rendered by a kangaroo court," his mother says. "He should have been out of that jail on 29 September." For months, she consumed only herbal tea, black coffee and rehydration salts. Hospitalised in February, she agreed to consume 300 liquid calories a day, after the prime minister called on Egypt's President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi to free her son. But on 20 May, she resumed her full hunger strike, saying that no progress had been made. Laila Soueif was hospitalised last Thursday and given glucagon, a hormone used to treat severe hypoglycaemia. She's taking intravenous electrolytes. But she's currently refusing glucose treatment. And over the weekend, her glucose levels dropped so low that they couldn't be detected, according to her family. "No-one understands how she's still conscious," her daughter, Sanaa Seif, told me. "It's very scary." She says that her mother now feels like she's dying. "She's talking to us about life after she's gone. She's started to do her farewells." Last week, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention - a panel of independent human rights - said Alaa Abdel Fattah had been arrested for exercising his right to freedom of expression and called for his immediate release. But Egypt - an important ally of the UK - has not even allowed the British embassy to visit him. Appeals from his family for the UK government to do more to put pressure on Egypt have been joined by MPs from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Arbitrary Detention and Hostage Affairs and by the former British ambassador to Egypt, John Casson. While in opposition, the Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, had called for Egypt to face "serious diplomatic consequences" if it did not grant the UK immediate consular access, and free Alaa Abdel Fattah. "I don't think the government is being forceful enough," Sanaa Seif says. "Alaa needs to be out of prison and out of the country. He needs to be in Brighton with his son, Khaled." She says she is inspired by her mother's strength and pleased that her hunger strike has drawn attention to the plight of the tens of thousands of political prisoners estimated to be held in Egypt - as well as the problems that British nationals face when detained abroad. "I'm really, really proud of my mum. I'm scared for her. And I'm angry at the government, especially the Foreign Office, because they've wasted so much time." The Foreign Office says it is committed to securing Alaa Abdel Fattah's release. "The foreign secretary stressed the urgency of the situation in a call with his counterpart on Sunday morning, and further engagement at the highest levels of the Egyptian government continues," a spokesperson said. Officials say the prime minister spoke to President Sisi on 22 May and again pressed for his release. Asked what her message would be if she didn't survive, Laila Soueif replied: "My message is: use my death as leverage to get Alaa out."
BBC News
03-06-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Mother of jailed British Egyptian activist vows to continue hunger strike despite risk of death
Laila Soueif's body is becoming weaker and have warned her that - after eight months on hunger strike - she's now at risk of sudden the strength of her resolve has not diminished at to the BBC from St Thomas' hospital in London, the 69-year-old British-Egyptian maths professor says that she "passionately" wants to she told the Today programme that she was prepared to die if that was what it took to get her son Alaa Abdel Fattah - Egypt's most prominent political prisoner - out of jail in Cairo. Calling on UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his government to find a way to get Egypt to release him, she says she believes she has "no other choice" but to continue to refuse calories. Alaa Abdel Fattah - who is also a British-Egyptian dual national - played a prominent role in pro-democracy protests in Egypt in 2011 and has been in prison almost continuously since latest five-year sentence was imposed after he shared a Facebook post about a prisoner dying after Soueif went on hunger strike in September 2024 - when her son's sentence should have Egyptian authorities refused to count the more than two years he spent in pre-trial detention towards his time served. And his family fear he is being used to set an example, and will never be freed."He finished his sentence for God's sake. It was an unfair sentence rendered by a kangaroo court," his mother says. "He should have been out of that jail on 29 September."For months, she consumed only herbal tea, black coffee and rehydration salts. Hospitalised in February, she agreed to consume 300 liquid calories a day, after the prime minister called on Egypt's President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi to free her on 20 May, she resumed her full hunger strike, saying that no progress had been Soueif was hospitalised last Thursday and given glucagon, a hormone used to treat severe taking intravenous electrolytes. But she's currently refusing glucose treatment. And over the weekend, her glucose levels dropped so low that they couldn't be detected, according to her family. "No-one understands how she's still conscious," her daughter, Sanaa Seif, told me. "It's very scary."She says that her mother now feels like she's dying."She's talking to us about life after she's gone. She's started to do her farewells."Last week, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention - a panel of independent human rights - said Alaa Abdel Fattah had been arrested for exercising his right to freedom of expression and called for his immediate Egypt - an important ally of the UK - has not even allowed the British embassy to visit from his family for the UK government to do more to put pressure on Egypt have been joined by MPs from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Arbitrary Detention and Hostage Affairs and by the former British ambassador to Egypt, John Casson. While in opposition, the Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, had called for Egypt to face "serious diplomatic consequences" if it did not grant the UK immediate consular access, and free Alaa Abdel Fattah."I don't think the government is being forceful enough," Sanaa Seif says. "Alaa needs to be out of prison and out of the country. He needs to be in Brighton with his son, Khaled."She says she is inspired by her mother's strength and pleased that her hunger strike has drawn attention to the plight of the tens of thousands of political prisoners estimated to be held in Egypt - as well as the problems that British nationals face when detained abroad."I'm really, really proud of my mum. I'm scared for her. And I'm angry at the government, especially the Foreign Office, because they've wasted so much time."The Foreign Office says it is committed to securing Alaa Abdel Fattah's release."The foreign secretary stressed the urgency of the situation in a call with his counterpart on Sunday morning, and further engagement at the highest levels of the Egyptian government continues," a spokesperson say the prime minister spoke to President Sisi on 22 May and again pressed for his what her message would be if she didn't survive, Laila Soueif replied: "My message is: use my death as leverage to get Alaa out."
Channel 4
30-05-2025
- Health
- Channel 4
242-day hunger strike: Mother protests for son's prison release
The mother of a British-Egyptian activist jailed in Cairo has been admitted to hospital, a week after resuming a full hunger strike. Laila Soueif has not eaten any food for 242 days. She began the strike last September – on the day her son Alaa Abdel Fattah should have been released.
BBC News
30-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Laila Soueif: Jailed activist's mother in hospital after resuming hunger strike
The mother of a British-Egyptian activist imprisoned in Cairo has been admitted to hospital for the second time, a week after resuming a full hunger strike to campaign for his release, her family Soueif, 69, the mother of Alaa Abdel Fattah, was taken to Guy's and St Thomas' hospital in London on Thursday with dangerously low blood sugar and blood pressure. She is refusing glucose began consuming only tea, coffee and rehydration salts in moved to a partial strike in February, consuming 300 calories a day, after she was admitted to hospital for the first time and the British prime minister said he had "pressed" Egypt's president to free her son. Despite having lost more than 40% of her original body weight, Ms Soueif announced on 20 May that she had decided to return to a zero-calorie diet because "nothing has changed, nothing is happening".Two days later, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he had again pressed Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi for the urgent release of her son, and "underlined how important it is to him to bring an end to the anguish Alaa and his family have faced".Alaa Abdel Fattah is also on his 91st day of his own hunger strike - consuming nothing but herbal tea, black coffee and rehydration salts, like his mother, at Wadi al-Natrun prison in Egypt, according to the 43-year-old blogger and pro-democracy activist is one of Egypt's best known political was arrested in September 2019, six months after finishing a previous five-year was convicted in 2021 of "spreading false news", for sharing a Facebook post about torture in should have been released on 29 September 2024 - the day Mrs Soueif started her hunger strike. However, the Egyptian authorities refused to count the more than two years he spent in pre-trial detention towards his time he acquired British citizenship in 2021, Egypt has never allowed him a consular visit by British diplomats. In a statement issued on Friday, Mrs Soueif's family said her blood sugar levels "dropped to a shocking new low of 1.1 mmol/L" on Thursday levels rose to 2.7 mmol/L after she was given glucagon - a natural hormone used to treat severe hypoglycaemia - but quickly dropped back down to 1.4 mmol/L, they daughter, Mona Seif, wrote on X: "No-one here comprehends the numbers, that she is still conscious and adamantly refusing medical intervention."Eilidh Macpherson of Amnesty International UK said: "It should never have come to this. Alaa is a prisoner of conscience, he shouldn't have spent a single minute behind bars, and his mother shouldn't have had to spend a minute on hunger strike to campaign for his release. "The UK government must use all of the tools at its disposal to step up the pressure on President Sisi to release Alaa, including through further direct calls."On Wednesday, a UN panel of independent human rights experts said in a legal opinion that Alaa Abdel Fattah's detention was arbitrary and illegal under international law, and called for his immediate release, his lawyer UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) determined that he was arbitrarily arrested for exercising his right to freedom of expression, was not given a fair trial and continued to be detained for his political to the panel, the Egyptian government said he was afforded "all fair trial rights" and that his sentence would be completed in January 2027.
The Guardian
20-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Mother of jailed British-Egyptian activist resumes full hunger strike
The mother of the imprisoned British-Egyptian human rights activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah has announced she has resumed a near-total hunger strike, stopping taking the 300-calorie supplements she had been consuming on her partial hunger strike for the past three months. Since the start of her hunger strike 233 days ago, Laila Soueif, 69, has lost 36kg, about 42% of her original body weight, and now weighs 49kg. She is taking the life-endangering step in protest at the continued detention of her son in Cairo beyond his five-year sentence. She has not eaten any food since 29 September 2024, the date her son's prison sentence was due to end, and has been surviving only on herbal tea, black coffee and rehydration salts. At the start of March, amid signs that the UK government was doing more behind the scenes to secure her son's release, she began a less stringent form of hunger strike, taking a daily 300-calorie liquid nutritional supplement, but on Tuesday she said she was stopping having the supplement after discussions with her family. She had started taking the supplement after being encouraged by a call that the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, had made on 28 February to the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, in which he had lobbied for her son's release. The Egyptian government refuses to recognise Abd el-Fattah's British citizenship and does not provide the British embassy in Cairo with consular access. There were signs that the UK national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, was speaking with Egyptian intelligence services, seen as closer to the decision-making centre inside the Egyptian government than the Foreign Office. Soueif said: 'It seemed to everyone around me that it was only reasonable to allow a few weeks for a process that might lead to Alaa's release without me incurring permanent damage to my health, or worse.' On the 149th day of her hunger strike in February, Soueif was taken to hospital with dangerously low blood sugar, blood pressure and sodium levels. During her week-long admission at St Thomas' hospital in London she was given a glucose drip after her blood sugar level dropped to 1.5mmol/L. Soueif, a mathematics professor, has resumed her daily one-hour vigil outside Downing Street to press Starmer to make her son's release a priority in Britain's relations with Egypt. Explaining her decision to resume a full hunger strike, Soueif said: 'I have never seen [the UK government] act as if the situation was urgent, except when I was hospitalised. For me and for my family the situation is urgent. We have used up more days than we ever thought we had. We need Alaa released now. We need Alaa with us now. We need Alaa reunited with his son Khaled now.' Soueif returned to London on Saturday after a visit to Egypt where she was able to visit her son on three occasions in Wadi el-Natrun prison. He is also on hunger strike, reaching his 81st day on Tuesday without consuming any calories. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion On her prison visit on the 6 May, Soueif was able to visit her son in an office and hug him for the first time since October. However, despite agreement that this could happen again, on a visit on 14 May the Egyptian authorities only let her see him from behind glass. Her first visit on 4 May was also behind glass. In April, Abd el-Fattah had fallen ill with vomiting, severe stomach pains and dizziness and received treatment from doctors in prison.
