After months of hunger strike, Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abdel Fattah has voluntarily resumed eating. According to his family, his health had previously deteriorated significantly.
The human rights activist and blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah, who has been imprisoned in Egypt, has ended his hunger strike because of a collapse, according to his family. He had a near-death experience, said relatives after the first visit for weeks. The Egyptian-British activist was previously handcuffed in his cell after refusing a medical exam and banging his head against the wall, a family statement said.
"Alaa's condition has deteriorated significantly over the past two weeks," his sister Mona Seifa wrote on Twitter. He "needed so badly" to see his family, she added. In the past few weeks, the prison authorities had repeatedly denied her entry.
In a short letter on Monday, he asked his mother to "bring a cake" when she visited on Thursday. "I want to celebrate my birthday with you guys," wrote the activist, who turns 41 on Friday. He did not give any reasons for his decision to end the hunger strike. According to his sister Sanaa Seif, the human rights activist had not eaten more than 100 calories a day for months as a protest against his imprisonment. He then stopped eating completely on November 2nd and also stopped drinking on November 6th.
Abdel Fattah was a key figure in Egypt's 2011 Arab Spring - the revolution that led to the ouster of longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak. The activist and blogger was sentenced to five years in prison in 2021. He has been in prison since 2019. Abdel Fattah is said to have spread "false information" - a common accusation against government critics in Egypt.
In view of the world climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, his case is currently receiving a great deal of attention. Hundreds of people demonstrated at the climate conference for his release and the release of other activists. About 60,000 political prisoners are being held in brutal conditions and in overcrowded cells in Egypt, according to human rights groups. According to Human Rights Watch, almost 700 people were arrested in the run-up to and during the current world climate conference alone. This raises concerns that dissenters will have to fear even harsher retaliatory measures after the end of the international conference in the country.
