The life of imprisoned hunger striker Alaa Abd el-Fattah is in great danger, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has said, renewing his appeal to Egypt to release him immediately. “I urge the Egyptian government to immediately release Abd el-Fattah from prison and provide him with the necessary medical treatment,” Turk said in a statement on Tuesday, warning that the activist “is in great danger.” “His dry hunger strike puts his life in grave danger.” Abd el-Fattah, a prominent activist and blogger who is a dual citizen of Britain and Egypt, was jailed in 2014 for five years on charges of taking part in an unauthorized assembly. He was re-arrested in 2019 and in December 2021 was sentenced to another five years on charges of spreading fake news. The 40-year-old has been on hunger strike for 220 days against detention and prison conditions. Abd el-Fattah informed his family that he will stop drinking water on Sunday in an escalation of his protest. His mother said she did not receive a letter she usually receives from him when she visited on Monday. Without water, Abd el-Fattah’s health could deteriorate rapidly. The escalation of his protest coincided with the COP27 climate summit, the annual United Nations gathering of world leaders to discuss global warming, being held in Egypt this year. Ravina Shamdasani, Turk’s spokeswoman, said the official spoke personally with Egyptian authorities to plead for Abd el-Fattah’s release as recently as Friday. Asked if there was a risk he might already be dead given the lack of communication, Shamdasani told a briefing in Geneva: “We are very concerned about his health and there is a lack of transparency, as well as his current condition.” Turk noted that the resumption of the Presidential Commission Grace Egypt in April “resulted in the release of many individuals.” However, it called on “the Egyptian authorities to fulfill their human rights obligations and immediately release all those arbitrarily detained, including those in detention, as well as those wrongfully convicted.” “No one should be detained for exercising their basic human rights or defending those of others,” he said.
Prisoners of conscience
Abd el-Fattah’s detention has become a prominent issue at the COP27 summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, where his sister Sanaa Seif – herself a former political prisoner – is joining the campaign for his release. Activists at COP27 are also tweeting profusely with the hashtag #FreeAlaa, and several speakers ended their speeches with the words “you are not defeated yet” – the title of his book. According to rights groups, Abd el-Fattah is among more than 60,000 prisoners of conscience in Egypt since President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi took power, ousting former president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Asked about the case, Egyptian Foreign Minister and COP27 president Sameh Shoukry told CNBC that prison authorities would provide Abd el-Fattah with health care. Egyptian officials previously said he was receiving meals. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron met directly with Egyptian President al-Sisi on Monday and stepped up pressure for his release, hours after three Egyptian journalists said they had launched their own hunger strikes over his fate.
