Crime & Justice

Jailed British-Egyptian activist Abdel Fattah is ‘alive’, says family

Cairo, Nov 14 (EFE).- Egyptian-British pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel Fattah “is alive” and has interrupted his thirst strike, which he launched at the start of the Cop27 climate summit to protest his imprisonment, his family reported Monday.

“I’m so relieved. We just got a note from prison to my mother, Alaa is alive, he says he’s drinking water again as of November 12th,” the activist’s sister, Sanaa Seif, Tweeted.

“He says he’ll say more as soon as he can. It’s definitely his handwriting,” she added.

“Proof of life, at last. Why did they hold this back from us for 2 days?!” Seif said.

Abdel Fattah’s family has had no communication with him since he launched his thirst strike on November 6.

The software developer had already spent over 220 days on a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment, which has been described as “unfair” by various rights groups.

The activist’s lawyer, Khaled Ali, said on Facebook that the letter added that his client was well and under medical supervision.

The lawyer said that on Monday he had returned to the Wadi el-Natrun prison in an attempt to see Abdel Fattah in person after prison authorities denied him visits twice in a week.

The activist’s detention has been a central theme at Cop27 and concerns over his well-being have prompted the leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Germany to address the issue directly with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Since Al Sisi rose to power in 2013, Abdel Fattah has spent much of this period behind bars, having served a five-year sentence for organizing a protest and after being handed another five-year prison sentence in 2021 for “spreading false news”.EFE

fa-cgs/ch/jt

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