UN demands Egypt release British political dissident who has been on hunger strike for seven months

The UN has demanded Egypt immediately release a jailed British political dissident who has been on hunger strike for seven months, warning his life is ‘in great danger’.

Alaa Abd el-Fattah, a prominent Egyptian-British activist and blogger, was sentenced in December in 2021 to five years in prison on charges of spreading fake news. 

The 40-year-old has been on hunger strike for 220 days against his detention and prison conditions. 

In an escalation of his protest that coincided with the arrival of world leaders in Egypt for the COP27 climate conference, Abd el-Fattah told his family he would stop drinking water on Sunday.

Abd el-Fattah’s family today told world leaders at the conference they had not heard from since he had been due to stop drinking water, as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called for his immediate release.

‘We don’t where he is. We don’t know if he’s alive,’ Abd el-Fattah’s sister Sanaa Seif said during the UN climate summit, this year held at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Turk said Abd el-Fattah’s life is ‘in great danger’, adding: ‘His dry hunger strike puts his life at acute risk.’ 

Asked whether there was a risk he may have already died, given the lack of communication, Volk’s spokesperson said in Geneva: ‘We are very concerned for his health and there is a lack of transparency as well around his current condition.’

Abd el-Fattah’s mother said she did not receive a weekly letter from him on Monday when she visited the jail northwest of Cairo, despite waiting there for hours.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who attended the COP27 climate talks on Monday, told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi that he hoped to see the issue resolved as soon as possible.

However, Seif said Britain had not replied to her request for proof that her brother was alive.

‘I asked the British authorities to get us some proof that Alaa is alive and conscious, I did not get any response.’

Asked about the case on Monday, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told CNBC that prison authorities would provide Abd el-Fattah with healthcare.

Egyptian officials have not responded to Reuters requests for comment on Abd el-Fattah. They said previously that he was receiving meals.

Amr Darwish, an Egyptian member of parliament attending COP27, said Abd el-Fattah was convicted in court and questioned his family’s appeal for international support, which pro-government figures have portrayed as an interference in Egypt’s internal affairs.

Abd el-Fattah rose to prominence during Egypt’s 2011 popular uprising which led to Egypt’s first democratic presidential election. The new Muslim Brotherhood president, Mohamed Mursi, was toppled by the military – then led by Sisi – after mass protests against his rule in July 2013.

The following month security forces broke up two pro-Mursi sit-ins in Cairo and killed hundreds of civilians.

Abd el-Fattah, a software developer from an activist family, was detained in the subsequent crackdown on Islamists, leftists and liberals alike, and has been behind bars for most of the time since then.

Some rights campaigners have criticised the decision for Egypt to host COP27, citing what they say is its repression of political dissent. They have also raised concern over access and space for protests at the United Nations climate talks.

Sisi has said security measures were needed to stabilise Egypt after the 2011 uprising.