Egyptian hunger striker visited by kin
CAIRO — Relatives of imprisoned Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah said they were allowed into the prison and saw him on Thursday and that his condition has “deteriorated severely” following a dramatic hunger strike.
The news was posted in a tweet by his sister Mona Seif after a visit to the prison of Wadi el-Natroun, north of Cairo, by the activist’s mother, aunt and his other sister. It was their first time seeing him in nearly a month.
“News from the visit are unsettling,” Mona tweeted, adding that her brother had “deteriorated severely in the past 2 weeks.” She did not elaborate more on his health but said the family would share more information later in the day.
Abdel-Fattah is one of Egypt’s most prominent pro-democracy campaigners. He had intensified a hunger strike and halted all calories and water at the start earlier in November of the U.N. climate conference underway in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, to draw attention to his case and those of other political prisoners.