Mom of jailed British Egyptian activist vows to proceed starvation strike regardless of danger of loss of life

[ad_1] Caroline Hawley Diplomatic correspondent

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/fce9/live/a2027c00-3ff3-11f0-b6e6-4ddb91039da1.png.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/fce9/live/a2027c00-3ff3-11f0-b6e6-4ddb91039da1.png.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/fce9/live/a2027c00-3ff3-11f0-b6e6-4ddb91039da1.png.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/fce9/live/a2027c00-3ff3-11f0-b6e6-4ddb91039da1.png.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/fce9/live/a2027c00-3ff3-11f0-b6e6-4ddb91039da1.png.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/fce9/live/a2027c00-3ff3-11f0-b6e6-4ddb91039da1.png.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/fce9/live/a2027c00-3ff3-11f0-b6e6-4ddb91039da1.png.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/fce9/live/a2027c00-3ff3-11f0-b6e6-4ddb91039da1.png.webp" loading="eager" alt="Free Alaa Sanaa Seif (L) sits beside her mother Laila Soueif (R) at St Thomas' hospital, London" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Free Alaa Laila Soueif's daughter, Sanaa, described the state of affairs as "very scary"

Laila Soueif's physique is turning into weaker and weaker.

Docs have warned her that - after eight months on starvation strike - she's now liable to sudden loss of life.

However the power of her resolve has not diminished in any respect.

Chatting with the BBC from St Thomas' hospital in London, the 69-year-old British-Egyptian maths professor says that she "passionately" desires to stay.

However she instructed the As we speak programme that she was ready to die if that was what it took to get her son Alaa Abdel Fattah - Egypt's most distinguished political prisoner - out of jail in Cairo.

Calling on UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his authorities to discover a technique to get Egypt to launch him, she says she believes she has "no different selection" however to proceed to refuse energy.

Alaa Abdel Fattah - who can also be a British-Egyptian twin nationwide - performed a distinguished function in pro-democracy protests in Egypt in 2011 and has been in jail virtually repeatedly since 2014.

His newest five-year sentence was imposed after he shared a Fb put up a couple of prisoner dying after torture.

Laila Soueif went on starvation strike in September 2024 - when her son's sentence ought to have ended.

The Egyptian authorities refused to rely the greater than two years he spent in pre-trial detention in the direction of his time served. And his household concern he's getting used to set an instance, and can by no means be freed.

"He completed his sentence for God's sake. It was an unfair sentence rendered by a kangaroo court docket," his mom says. "He ought to have been out of that jail on 29 September."

For months, she consumed solely natural tea, black espresso and rehydration salts. Hospitalised in February, she agreed to devour 300 liquid energy a day, after the prime minister referred to as on Egypt's President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi to free her son.

However on 20 Might, she resumed her full starvation strike, saying that no progress had been made.

Laila Soueif was hospitalised final Thursday and given glucagon, a hormone used to deal with extreme hypoglycaemia.

She's taking intravenous electrolytes. However she's at present refusing glucose therapy. And over the weekend, her glucose ranges dropped so low that they could not be detected, in accordance with her household.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/09c4/live/66d94640-3ff8-11f0-a924-5bf78a05302f.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/09c4/live/66d94640-3ff8-11f0-a924-5bf78a05302f.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/09c4/live/66d94640-3ff8-11f0-a924-5bf78a05302f.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/09c4/live/66d94640-3ff8-11f0-a924-5bf78a05302f.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/09c4/live/66d94640-3ff8-11f0-a924-5bf78a05302f.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/09c4/live/66d94640-3ff8-11f0-a924-5bf78a05302f.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/09c4/live/66d94640-3ff8-11f0-a924-5bf78a05302f.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/09c4/live/66d94640-3ff8-11f0-a924-5bf78a05302f.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="AFP Alaa Abdel Fattah smiles during an interview at his home in Cairo on 17 May 2019 (file photo)" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> AFP Alaa Abdel Fattah, seen right here in 2019, has spent a lot of the previous 11 years in jail

"No-one understands how she's nonetheless acutely aware," her daughter, Sanaa Seif, instructed me. "It is very scary."

She says that her mom now appears like she's dying.

"She's speaking to us about life after she's gone. She's began to do her farewells."

Final week, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention - a panel of unbiased human rights - mentioned Alaa Abdel Fattah had been arrested for exercising his proper to freedom of expression and referred to as for his rapid launch.

However Egypt - an essential ally of the UK - has not even allowed the British embassy to go to him.

Appeals from his household for the UK authorities to do extra to place strain on Egypt have been joined by MPs from the All Celebration Parliamentary Group on Arbitrary Detention and Hostage Affairs and by the previous British ambassador to Egypt, John Casson.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/9086/live/261a0a20-3ffa-11f0-bbf2-cb4e562159b8.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/9086/live/261a0a20-3ffa-11f0-bbf2-cb4e562159b8.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/9086/live/261a0a20-3ffa-11f0-bbf2-cb4e562159b8.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/9086/live/261a0a20-3ffa-11f0-bbf2-cb4e562159b8.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/9086/live/261a0a20-3ffa-11f0-bbf2-cb4e562159b8.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/9086/live/261a0a20-3ffa-11f0-bbf2-cb4e562159b8.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/9086/live/261a0a20-3ffa-11f0-bbf2-cb4e562159b8.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/9086/live/261a0a20-3ffa-11f0-bbf2-cb4e562159b8.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Free Alaa UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer meets Laila Soueif at 10 Downing Street, London" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Free Alaa British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has instructed Laila Souief that he's urgent Egypt to launch her son

Whereas in opposition, the Overseas Secretary, David Lammy, had referred to as for Egypt to face "critical diplomatic penalties" if it didn't grant the UK rapid consular entry, and free Alaa Abdel Fattah.

"I do not suppose the federal government is being forceful sufficient," Sanaa Seif says. "Alaa must be out of jail and in a foreign country. He must be in Brighton together with his son, Khaled."

She says she is impressed by her mom's power and happy that her starvation strike has drawn consideration to the plight of the tens of 1000's of political prisoners estimated to be held in Egypt - in addition to the issues that British nationals face when detained overseas.

"I am actually, actually happy with my mum. I am scared for her. And I am offended on the authorities, particularly the Overseas Workplace, as a result of they've wasted a lot time."

The Overseas Workplace says it's dedicated to securing Alaa Abdel Fattah's launch.

"The overseas secretary confused the urgency of the state of affairs in a name together with his counterpart on Sunday morning, and additional engagement on the highest ranges of the Egyptian authorities continues," a spokesperson mentioned.