Egyptian authorities said Thursday that Egyptian-British political prisoner Alaa Abdel Fattah was in “good health” without convincing his family, who said he was in mortal danger after seven months on hunger strike and continued to call for his release. The United States, whose President Joe Biden is set to meet his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sissi at COP27 in Egypt on Friday, joined other Western countries in expressing its “deep concern” for Alaa Abdel Fattah and calling for his release.
For several days, relatives of the detainee have feared he is being force-fed after he downed just one glass of tea and one spoonful of honey a day for seven months before stopping eating a week ago and then drinking on Sunday at the opening of COP27 in Sharm el Sheikh. In a statement, Egyptian prosecutors said the pro-democracy blogger’s “all signs of life are normal” and he “does not require hospitalization”. He even went so far as to “question” his hunger strike.
” Lying ! “, his sister Mona Seif replied on Facebook. “They will say that he is not on hunger strike, they will secretly get him back on his feet so that he does not die at their hands and they will not let anyone see him. As Alaa Abdel Fattah’s mother, Laila Soueif, showed up outside her prison 100 kilometers from Cairo on Thursday for the fourth time this week, but officials turned her away and told him his son was under “medical treatment” and “the The public prosecutor’s office is informed.” But not the family or their lawyers, accuses Mona Seif.
“force-feeding”
For Hossam Bahgat, an Egyptian human rights defender, “this means he’s being force-fed.” The family had found hope that morning when prosecutors summoned his lawyer, Khaled Ali, to issue him a visitation permit. The latter, dated Wednesday evening, was denied by the correctional facility, according to the lawyer. Later, Khaled Ali called on Sisi to grant “a presidential pardon” to “Alaa Abdel Fattah” and other prisoners of conscience. “The authorities (…) cannot yield to anger or revenge. »
Paused for years, presidential pardons resumed in 2022. More than 750 detainees have benefited from it. But almost twice as many were arrested at the same time, according to Amnesty International. The NGO Human Rights Watch described the medical treatment “imposed” on the detainee as “cruel, inhuman and degrading”. Force-feeding is considered “torture” under international law.
Alaa Abdel Fattah, who will turn 41 on November 18, was arrested in late 2019 and sentenced to five years in prison for spreading “false information” after posting on Facebook a text authored by another, in which an officer accused of torture became.
On Thursday in Sharm el-Sheikh, hundreds of COP27 participants dressed in white like Egyptian prisoners shouted “Free them all!” in relation to the more than 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt, according to NGOs.