Hunger-striking mum of jailed UK-Egyptian close to death: family
The mother of jailed Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abdel Fattah is close to death after 242 days on hunger strike, her daughter warned Friday.
Laila Soueif, 69, was hospitalised Thursday in London with "critically low" blood sugar, having resumed her full hunger strike last week.
Doctors gave "her proteins that help the body produce glucose", her anxious daughter Sanaa Seif said outside St Thomas hospital in London.
"It worked for a couple of hours" but the "bottom line is, we're losing her, and... there is no time," Seif added, saying her mother was still refusing to accept glucose.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer "needs to act now, not tomorrow, not Monday. Now, right now," she said.
"It's a miracle that we still have her, I'm really proud of her, and I want to remind Keir Starmer (of) his promise to us."
Soueif's son Abdel Fattah was arrested in Egypt in September 2019 and sentenced to five years in prison on charges of "spreading false news" after sharing a Facebook post about police brutality.
The 43-year-old writer and activist has become a symbol of the plight of thousands of political prisoners languishing in Egyptian jails.
A United Nations panel of experts on Wednesday determined his detention was arbitrary and illegal and called for his immediate release.
Soueif has been on hunger strike since September 29, 2024, the day her son was expected to be released after completing his five-year prison sentence.
Abdel Fattah, who has spent most of the past decade behind bars, has also been on hunger strike himself since March 1 after learning his mother had been hospitalised with dangerously low blood sugar and blood pressure.
Following her February hospitalisation, Soueif decided to ease her strike after Starmer said he had pressed for her son's release in a call with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
She began consuming 300 calories a day through a liquid nutritional supplement, still going without food until last week, when she returned to consuming only rehydration salts, tea without sugar and vitamins.
Her family says she has lost over 40 percent of her bodyweight since September.
Last week, Starmer's office again said the prime minister had pressed for Abdel Fattah's release in a call with Sisi.
A key figure in the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak, he has been detained under successive administrations since.
Soueif's daughter said she had been in contact with the UK foreign ministry. "They know she's dying. They know in detail how she's dying," she said, visibly upset.
A foreign ministry spokesperson told AFP they were "concerned to hear of Laila's hospitalisation" and continued to press for Abdel Fattah's release.
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