Activist jailed in Cairo has called off his hunger strike, family says

A UK activist jailed in Cairo has ended his six-month hunger strike, his family announced yesterday, telling his mother in a letter that he hoped to celebrate his birthday with her tomorrow.

The mother of Alaa Abd el-fattah, who has dual British and Egyptian nationality, received a note in her son’s handwriting that read: “The important thing is I want to celebrate my birthday with you on Thursday, I haven’t celebrated for a long time, and want to celebrate with my cell mates, so bring a cake, normal provisions, I’ve broken my strike. I’ll explain everything on Thursday.”

The 40-year-old, who was a leading figure in the Arab Spring uprising that overthrew Egyptian dictator Hosni

Muburak, has spent most of the past decade in prison. He was rearrested in December and jailed for five years for “spreading fake news” after sharing a Facebook post about torture in prisons.

In April, he began a hunger strike to protest at the conditions of his detention and to demand his right to a consular visit from British diplomats.

After prolonging his protest for months, by subsisting on 100 calories per day, he began refusing all food earlier this month, announcing he would also stop drinking water as world leaders travelled to Sharm el-sheikh in Egypt for the Cop27 climate summit.

The UK has called for his release, with Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, saying last week that he would press Egypt over Mr Abd el-fattah’s case.

“We want to see Alaa freed and reunited with his family as soon as possible,” Mr Sunak said as the prospect of a British citizen dying during the conference threatened to overshadow proceedings.

Mr Abd el-fattah’s family announced last week that the Egyptian authorities had subjected him to unspecified “medical intervention”.

On Monday, his family received a letter informing them that he had resumed drinking water.

His sister, Mona Seif, said she was “cautiously relieved” to hear that he had ended his hunger strike.

But his relatives said they do not know what has happened to him in prison and what factors had influenced his decision to call off his protest.

Another sister, Sanaa Seif, said: “We’re counting down the days until Thursday now to find out what’s been going on inside prison with Alaa.”