Laila Soueif: Jailed activist's mother in hospital after resuming hunger strike
The mother of a British-Egyptian activist imprisoned in Cairo has been admitted to hospital for the second time, a week after resuming a full hunger strike to campaign for his release, her family says.Laila Soueif, 69, the mother of Alaa Abdel Fattah, was taken to Guy's and St Thomas' hospital in London on Thursday with dangerously low blood sugar and blood pressure. She is refusing glucose treatment.She began consuming only tea, coffee and rehydration salts in September.She moved to a partial strike in February, consuming 300 calories a day, after she was admitted to hospital for the first time and the British prime minister said he had "pressed" Egypt's president to free her son.
Despite having lost more than 40% of her original body weight, Ms Soueif announced on 20 May that she had decided to return to a zero-calorie diet because "nothing has changed, nothing is happening".Two days later, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he had again pressed Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi for the urgent release of her son, and "underlined how important it is to him to bring an end to the anguish Alaa and his family have faced".Alaa Abdel Fattah is also on his 91st day of his own hunger strike - consuming nothing but herbal tea, black coffee and rehydration salts, like his mother, at Wadi al-Natrun prison in Egypt, according to the family.The 43-year-old blogger and pro-democracy activist is one of Egypt's best known political prisoners.He was arrested in September 2019, six months after finishing a previous five-year sentence.He was convicted in 2021 of "spreading false news", for sharing a Facebook post about torture in Egypt.He should have been released on 29 September 2024 - the day Mrs Soueif started her hunger strike. However, the Egyptian authorities refused to count the more than two years he spent in pre-trial detention towards his time served.Although he acquired British citizenship in 2021, Egypt has never allowed him a consular visit by British diplomats.
In a statement issued on Friday, Mrs Soueif's family said her blood sugar levels "dropped to a shocking new low of 1.1 mmol/L" on Thursday night.The levels rose to 2.7 mmol/L after she was given glucagon - a natural hormone used to treat severe hypoglycaemia - but quickly dropped back down to 1.4 mmol/L, they added.Her daughter, Mona Seif, wrote on X: "No-one here comprehends the numbers, that she is still conscious and adamantly refusing medical intervention."Eilidh Macpherson of Amnesty International UK said: "It should never have come to this. Alaa is a prisoner of conscience, he shouldn't have spent a single minute behind bars, and his mother shouldn't have had to spend a minute on hunger strike to campaign for his release. "The UK government must use all of the tools at its disposal to step up the pressure on President Sisi to release Alaa, including through further direct calls."On Wednesday, a UN panel of independent human rights experts said in a legal opinion that Alaa Abdel Fattah's detention was arbitrary and illegal under international law, and called for his immediate release, his lawyer said.The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) determined that he was arbitrarily arrested for exercising his right to freedom of expression, was not given a fair trial and continued to be detained for his political opinions.According to the panel, the Egyptian government said he was afforded "all fair trial rights" and that his sentence would be completed in January 2027.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
27 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
RACHEL RICKARD STRAUS: I fear Labour is set to slap tough new rules on where you invest your Isa
It is all but certain that Chancellor Rachel Reeves will slash the amount that we can put in cash Isas. She has repeatedly refused to deny that she will – and industry sources suggest the most likely limit will be £4,000 of our total £20,000 tax-free allowance – the rest to be used only for investing. But details hiding in official savings figures that have until now been overlooked make me fear that far more Isa restrictions are on the cards. Here's why. Reeves has stated two motivations for meddling with Isas. The first is helping people to get a better return on their savings. Her theory is that if she restricts the amount we can save tax-free in cash we will invest instead (whether this strategy will work is debatable: it is more likely that we will just divert our cash into ordinary savings accounts). The second motivation is the one underlying all of Reeves's decisions: to help drive economic growth. This ambition will not be fulfilled simply by restricting cash Isa limits. Even if it leads to a wave of cash flooding into financial markets, only a small pool of it will go into UK companies. New investors are likely to put money into popular stocks – such as Nvidia, Meta and Apple – rather than favouring the UK. The UK makes up only 4 per cent of the global stock market, so an investor opting for a well-diversified portfolio would be unlikely to put much into this country. That's why, if Reeves wants to achieve her aims, she will have to force us to invest in assets that would boost UK growth. She may insist that a portion of stocks and shares Isas must be directed at UK companies. She made a similar demand of pension funds last week – and sources tell me this is being discussed for Isas as well. It wouldn't be the first time such an idea was mooted – the previous government considered something similar when it tried to launch a British Isa that savers could use to invest in UK companies. The next clue that Reeves will force – or incentivise – savers to invest part of their Isa allowance in the UK is in the Premium Bond figures. Premium Bonds hold so much of our cash that if encouraging us to invest more was her sole priority, she'd be slashing the amount we can put in them too. From a saver's point of view, Premium Bonds offer an even poorer return than cash Isas. At least in an Isa you earn interest. With Premium Bonds you're simply holding out for a prize. There are millions more holders of Premium Bonds than cash Isas – around 24 million versus just 14 million – and we hold a stonking £127.7 billion of cash in them. As many as 1.2 million savers hold the maximum permitted amount of £50,000 in Premium Bonds. No doubt plenty of that cash could be earning a better return if invested instead. If her priority was to get better returns for savers, she would slash that maximum. But, of course, she won't. Not just because it would be unpopular – that has not stopped her in the past. But because, unlike cash Isas, money saved in Premium Bonds does help drive economic growth. Premium Bonds are one of the products sold by NS&I to bring in billions for the Government for it to spend. It is a form of government borrowing – but one that doesn't appear on the books like other types of debt. Her willingness to overlook poor returns for savers in Premium Bonds shows where her priorities lie: economic growth first, savers' wealth second. The third clue lies in the official Isa figures from HMRC. They reveal that restricting the amount we can save in cash to encourage us to invest more will not work. Until 2015, Isa allowances were restricted just as Reeves is currently planning. You could only put a proportion of your Isa allowance in cash – the rest had to go in stocks and shares. If Reeves is right that savers need to have their cash Isa allowance curbed to get them to invest, you would expect that savers might have flocked to cash as soon as the rules were abolished in 2015. But they did not. In fact, when they were permitted to save as much of their allowance in cash as they liked, they chose to invest more. Before 2015, for every £10 going into a cash Isa, £4.10 went into a stocks and shares Isa. After 2015, for every £10 going into cash, £5.90 went into stocks and shares, analysis by investment platform XTB shows. The proportion going into stocks and shares has ballooned – we hold £431 billion in stocks and shares Isas, compared with £294 billion in cash Isas. So the Chancellor can't use the excuse that she needs to restrict cash Isas to get savers to buy more stocks and shares – they are already investing more. But that won't matter to her. The real motivation is to drive growth – and in this plan cash savers are merely a pawn. So what comes next? I fear the freedom to save and invest within our Isa however we choose is about to be clobbered on all fronts. Savers need to prepare for a regression back to 1999, before the Isa was even launched. Back then, savers were reliant on Personal Equity Plans. These were the predecessor of the Isa and offered tax-free investing but required you to put a proportion of your allowance into UK companies. That is where we're heading – back where we started, with our freedoms restricted, as if nothing had been learned.
Daily Mail
27 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
JEFF PRESTRIDGE: There ARE simple ways for trusts to boost their shares
Investments trusts are a super way for investors to get long-term exposure to stock markets – and make some money along the way. They're easy to buy and sell, and most provide value for money. Yet they are not without flaws, as predators such as American hedge fund manager Saba Capital have sought to exploit. The biggest one is that as funds listed on the London Stock Exchange, their share prices do not always reflect their underlying asset value. In most cases, they undervalue them. In investment speak, they trade at a discount. When this happens, shareholders see the worth of their investments eroded. It's frustrating. The average discount industrywide is currently about 15 per cent. Trust shares trade at discounts for many reasons: out of vogue investment mandates; an unappealing stock market (as London has been for quite a while); and an unfriendly economic and financial backdrop. Yet underpinning all these reasons is a mismatch between buyers and sellers. More investors want out than in. Saba has sought to make money from this by buying stakes in undervalued investment trusts and then agitating for change. So far it hasn't managed to take any trusts under its wing, but it has helped close discounts on some trusts, making money in the process. A few days ago I spoke to Richard Curling, chairman of trust Montanaro European Smaller Companies (MESC), about discounts. The £277 million trust has Saba among its shareholders. Curling says investment trusts must do more to reduce the 'volatility' in share price discounts. At MESC, he has implemented a three-prong strategy designed to drive down the trust's discount. It has involved buying back shares (in effect reducing their supply to make them scarcer); allowing investors twice a year to exit the trust at close to asset value; and reducing the annual charge from 0.9 to 0.825 per cent. Although early days, it's working. The trust's discount is now 8 per cent, more than half what it was in November last year (Saba has taken advantage of this to trim its stake). And unlike many other trust chairs, Curling has a bit of get up and go about him. Curling believes the investment trust industry needs to do far more to attract investors – young and old – something which would help drive down discounts. His ideas include the use of social media to get younger people interested in investing, and the removal of jargon from key literature such as annual reports. He adds: 'We must present our case better to potential investors. Plain English, not jargon.' Curling is bang on the nail. Although stellar investment performance will always be the number one priority for investors (MESC's share price is up 17 per cent over the past year), investment trusts must become more relevant to today's investors. Otherwise there is a danger many will be undermined by discounts. On a related issue, the industry's flag waver, the Association of Investment Companies (AIC), is calling for a change in UK company law that would ensure more trust shareholders vote on key issues, such as a trust's discontinuation or takeover. Currently, many shareholders are thwarted from voting because the platform they hold their investments with don't pass on details. The AIC has launched a petition on this issue. It needs 10,000 signatures for the Government to respond ( As a fan of trusts and investor empowerment, I've put my name to it, as have 1,798 other people. Are there 8,202 lovers of investment trusts out there who will get the petition to the next step? I do hope so. Leave Gift Aid alone, Rachel Gift Aid is a financial lifeline to many charities left battered and bruised by Chancellor Rachel Reeves's recent hike in employer National Insurance costs. It boosts the coffers of 66,000 charities by £1.6 billion a year. This month, I am doing two Race For Life runs for fabulous charity Cancer Research UK – a 5km event in London's Battersea Park, followed by a 10km run in glorious Worthing, West Sussex (I have a thing about piers). So far, Gift Aid, a 25 per cent top-up on donations, has increased my fundraising by more than £180. So, Rachel, I know you've made a pig's ear of the country's finances, but please leave Gift Aid alone come the Autumn Budget. You've hit charities once in the pocket. Twice would be cruel beyond cruel. Rachel de Vil. Watch out for your bank sneakily dropping chip and pin payments Like many readers, retired teacher Moira McCormick isn't a fan of new banking technology. She prefers cards that require a personal identification number (PIN) to contactless. 'It provides me with a layer of financial protection,' she says. But recently she used her card to pay for parking at her local Banbury railway station, only for the payment to be completed without requiring a PIN. Worried that anyone could use her card to pay for parking if she were to lose it, she contacted Chiltern Railways (operator of the car park) for an explanation. She was told that Mastercard and Visa have informed the company which provides the payment service for Chiltern's ticket machines that 'insecure unencrypted PIN validation' was no longer permitted. She was told to contact her card issuer (HSBC) for a replacement that asks for PIN verification. Chiltern informed her that some cardholders with Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland (NatWest) were also affected. 'I was told the change is meant to improve the security of my card,' says Moira, 'but it's now less secure. Anyone could use it if I lost it.' Indeed, when sales director Bradford Bines, from Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, lost a card in a Manchester car park, he later discovered it was fraudulently used 29 times by exiting drivers. HSBC insisted that changes to the technology were designed to make cards 'more secure from criminals trying to steal data'. Moira's non-PIN payment, it said, was deemed to be 'low value and low risk', adding: 'A decision was made to approve this payment without a PIN for the convenience of the customer.' Moira isn't happy. She says HSBC should have informed her that some payments would no longer require a PIN. Fair point.
South Wales Guardian
35 minutes ago
- South Wales Guardian
Hundreds of migrants cross Channel in small boats
At least six boats left France in the first attempted crossings to reach the UK in a week. French police officers watched as migrants, including children, boarded at a beach in Gravelines, between Calais and Dunkirk, in the morning. Authorities were then pictured escorting the boats. France has agreed to change its rules so police can prevent people in the water from getting on to boats, but this has not yet come into effect, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said in recent weeks. She has been urging the French to make the changes so their maritime forces can intervene in shallow waters as soon as possible, it is understood. A Home Office source said: 'We have developed strong co-operation with the French and it is important that they have agreed to disrupt these boats once they're in the water – and not just on the shore. 'This vital step now needs to be operationalised to protect border security and save lives.' The coastguard reportedly issued an appeal for fishing boats to assist a yacht and kayaks in trouble in the Channel as it responded to small boats. Co-ordinating multiple simultaneous incidents is 'not unusual', the coastguard said, stressing that 'at no time was public safety compromised'. 'In line with standard procedure, coastguard operations centres may contact vessels in the vicinity of an incident, including fishing boats, to provide assistance if they are best placed to help, regardless of other ongoing operations. 'This is routine practice and does not indicate an absence of search and rescue assets.' The highest number of arrivals recorded on a single day so far this year was 825 on May 21. This year is on course to set a record for Channel crossings, with more than 13,000 people having arrived so far, up 30% on this point last year, according to analysis of the data by the PA news agency. Sir Keir Starmer's Government has pledged to crack down on small boat crossings including with measures targeting smuggling gangs. A Home Office spokesperson said: 'We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security. 'The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die as long as they pay, and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice. 'That is why this Government has put together a serious plan to take down these networks at every stage. 'Through international intelligence sharing under our Border Security Command, enhanced enforcement operations in northern France and tougher legislation in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, we are strengthening international partnerships and boosting our ability to identify, disrupt and dismantle criminal gangs whilst strengthening the security of our borders.' The Home Secretary previously said gangs have been taking advantage of a higher number of calm weather days to make the journey. UK temperatures hit 26C on Saturday, wrapping up the sunniest spring on record. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said boats were 'flooding the channel', with Border Force 'stretched beyond breaking point, and even fishing vessels drafted in because our maritime rescue services are overwhelmed'. 'A nation reduced to chaos on the high seas while Keir Starmer hides behind platitudes and process. 'Labour has completely lost control of our borders. Their pledge to smash gangs in tatters. They scrapped the Rwanda deterrent before it even began and now the boats won't stop coming. 'So far, this is already the worst year on record. Labour have failed on every front, and Britain is paying the price. This is a day of shame for Labour.'
