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November 4, 2022

Egyptian Political Prisoner Alaa Abd el-Fattah to Escalate Hunger Strike as COP27 Opens
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In Egypt, the Egyptian-British writer, philosopher and political
prisoner Alaa Abd el-Fattah is poised to escalate his hunger strike into
a water strike when the COP27 climate summit gets underway on Sunday.
Abd el-Fattah has already been on a hunger strike for more than 200 days
to demand his freedom, after he was jailed over much of the last nine
years for his role in the 2011 revolution that ousted Egypt's long-time
dictator Hosni Mubarak. Alaa's sister, Mona Seif, spoke from London
Thursday after meeting with Britain's Middle East Minister and the
British Foreign Secretary earlier this week. 

Mona Seif: "Once he starts the water strike, the body can only sustain
itself so much, so we are talking about a few days in which either the
UK government has to step up what they are doing, and the UK government
and the Egyptian government have to agree on a solution to that
situation, or we are going to lose Alaa in prison."

Another of Alaa Abd el-Fattah's sisters, Sanaa Seif, says she plans to
attend the COP27 talks next week. Click here for our coverage of Alaa
Abd el-Fattah's case.


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