Jailed Egypt dissident's death in 'no one's interest', sister says

The possible death of jailed British-Egyptian dissident Alaa Abdel Fattah in prison is "in no one's interest", his sister Sanaa Seif said, nearly two days after he started refusing water.

Following a seven-month hunger strike during which he only had 100 calories per day, Abdel Fattah stopped drinking water on Sunday to coincide with the opening of the United Nations COP27 climate summit in Egypt.

Widely considered Egypt's best-known dissident, he has been sentenced to five years in prison for "spreading false news", having already spent the better part of the past decade behind bars.

"We are talking about an innocent man who has unjustly spent nine years in prison," Seif said from the climate summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where she travelled to appeal to world leaders to press for his release.

Seif, her sister Mona, her mother Laila Soueif and her aunt, celebrated novelist Adhaf Soueif, have campaigned worldwide for the release of the activist, who gained British citizenship through his UK-born mother in April.

"We need sensible people to intervene," Seif said in an interview with AFP. "I put my hopes in the British delegation because as his sister, I can't give up or tell myself that my brother will die."

She acknowledged the risk of travelling to Sharm el-Sheikh, with its heavy security restrictions, saying: "I admit, I was afraid to come."

"But it's our last resort," she said.

"I came so that Alaa wouldn't be forgotten. I want to remind both Egyptian and British officials that my presence means that someone is dying and that it's possible to save him."

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak raised Abdel Fattah's case in a meeting with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday, "stressing the UK Government's deep concern on this issue", a Downing Street spokesperson said.

Sunak said he "hoped to see this resolved as soon as possible and would continue to press for progress", the spokesperson said.

- 'Continue the fight' -

Amnesty International chief Agnes Callamard on Sunday warned that "there is not a lot of time -- 72 hours at best," referring to Abdel Fattah's possible remaining lifespan.

But Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry assured that the dissident "benefits from all necessary care in prison", in an interview with CNBC Monday.

Seif nonetheless warned that "the way his case is handled only accelerates the destabilisation of the regime".

She accused Egypt of using the COP27 summit to "erase its bad reputation in terms of human rights".

But despite clampdowns, Abdel Fattah's cause has been championed by activists, artists, rights defenders and politicians -- including the French president -- during the summit.

France's Emmanuel Macron on Monday said he received an assurance from Sisi that the Egyptian president was "committed to ensuring that (the) health of Alaa Abdel Fattah is preserved".

It came as concern continued to grow over his condition.

On Monday morning, "my mother went to wait outside the prison to check on him after 24 hours without water," Seif said.

By evening, she still had not received word from her son, nor had she been able to deliver the clothes and books she drops off to him every week.

"The ball is in the politicians' court, it is up to them to do their job," Seif continued.

"We continue the fight and we must not lose hope."

Britain, France raise hunger striker case with Egypt's Sisi
Cairo (AFP) Nov 7, 2022 - Britain and France on Monday raised the case of a dissident hunger striker with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, a day after the jailed activist started refusing water.

Alaa Abdel Fattah, a British-Egyptian, stopped drinking water on Sunday to coincide with the opening of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron both met directly with Sisi and upped the pressure for his release, hours after three Egyptian journalists said they had begun their own hunger strikes over his fate.

Egyptian journalist Mona Selim told AFP during a sit-in at the journalists' union in Cairo that she and two colleagues had "stopped eating now because Alaa Abdel Fattah is in danger of dying".

She was speaking alongside Eman Ouf and Racha Azab, the two colleagues who have gone on hunger strike with her.

Selim said that the three are also demanding the "liberation of all prisoners of conscience" in Egypt.

Such prisoners number more than 60,000 in Egypt, according to rights groups -- jailed under the rule of Sisi, who deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, before being elected the following year.

After a seven-month hunger strike during which he consumed only "100 calories a day", Abdel Fattah has refused food altogether since last Tuesday.

On Sunday he launched his "water strike", said his sister Sanaa Seif, who on Monday travelled to Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where world leaders have gathered for the COP27.

- 'Not a lot of time' -

Sunak has said Abdel Fattah's plight is "a priority", and met with the Egyptian president on Monday.

"The Prime Minister said he hoped to see this resolved as soon as possible and would continue to press for progress," a spokesman for Sunak said, adding he had stressed "the UK Government's deep concern on this issue".

Macron said he received an assurance from Sisi that the Egyptian president was "committed to ensuring that (the) health of Alaa Abdel Fattah is preserved".

Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, the COP27 president, told CNBC television that Abdel Fattah had "all the necessary care in prison".

Activists at COP27 have posted prolifically on Twitter under the hashtag #FreeAlaa and several speakers have ended their speeches with the words "you have not yet been defeated" -- the title of his book, prefaced by Canadian author Naomi Klein.

"There is not a lot of time -- 72 hours at best," Amnesty International chief Agnes Callamard said in Cairo on Sunday, referring to Alaa Abdel Fattah's possible remaining lifespan.

She urged Egypt to release him and said that, "if they don't, that death will be in every single discussion in this COP".

Abdel Fattah has since late last year been serving a five-year sentence for "broadcasting false news", having already spent much of the past decade behind bars.

In Lebanon's capital Beirut, around 100 people protested against his detention near the British embassy, an AFP photographer reported.

Abdel Fattah "embodies the Arab world's fight against repressive authorities in the past 12-13 years," said journalist Diana Moukalled.

"We are gathering today to raise our voice and demand the release of Alaa and thousands of other political detainees in Egypt and other Arab countries," she said.

Abdel Fattah's continued detention comes despite Egypt having granted presidential pardons to a total of 766 political prisoners since the reactivation of a pardon policy in April this year, according to data compiled by Amnesty.

But over this period 1,540 political dissidents have also been put behind bars, Amnesty says.

The group Reporters Without Borders, in its 2022 World Press Freedom Index, ranked Egypt 168 out of 180 countries.

Three Egyptian journalists start hunger strike to free dissident
Cairo (AFP) Nov 7, 2022 - Three Egyptian journalists said Monday they had begun hunger strikes to demand authorities free Alaa Abdel Fattah, a jailed political dissident who has been refusing food and now water too.

British-Egyptian Abdel Fattah, 40, a major figure in the 2011 revolt that toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak, stopped drinking water on Sunday to coincide with the opening of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt.

"We have stopped eating now because Alaa Abdel Fattah is in danger of dying," journalist Mona Selim told AFP during a sit-in at the journalists' union in Cairo.

She was speaking alongside Eman Ouf and Racha Azab, the two colleagues who have gone on hunger strike with her.

Selim said that the three are also demanding the "liberation of all prisoners of conscience" in Egypt.

They number more than 60,000 in Egypt, according to rights groups -- jailed under the rule of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, before being elected the following year.

After a seven-month hunger strike during which he consumed only "100 calories a day", Alaa Abdel Fattah has refused food altogether since last Tuesday.

On Sunday he launched a "water strike", said his sister Sanaa Seif, who on Monday travelled to Sharm el-Sheikh where world leaders arrived for the COP27.

- 'Not a lot of time' -

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said Abdel Fattah's plight is "a priority", and in a letter to the activist's sister strongly suggested that his case will be discussed at the summit.

Speaking to journalists at the climate summit, Sunak said: "I am hoping to see President Sisi later today. I will, of course, raise this issue."

"It's something that not just the United Kingdom but many countries want to see resolved," he added.