Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt — International pressure mounted Tuesday for the
“immediate release” of Egyptian activist
Alaa Abdel Fattah, whose family fears
for his life after he escalated his hunger strike by refusing water too, as COP27
opened.
اضافة اعلان
After a
seven-month stint during which he consumed only “100 calories a day”, the
40-year-old British-Egyptian stopped drinking water on Sunday as world leaders
gathered for the opening of the global climate summit in Egypt.
On Tuesday, a
day after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel
Macron met with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and raised his plight,
UN rights Chief Volker Turk and German Chancellor
Olaf Scholz demanded his
release.
Abdel Fattah,
currently serving a five-year sentence for “spreading false news” for reposting
a Facebook post about police brutality, has been leading headlines during the
UN summit, intensifying international attention on Egypt’s rights record.
A key figure of
the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak, Abdel Fattah
gained British citizenship this year through his UK-born mother, Laila Soueif.
‘Dreadful consequences’
Soueif — who has been camped out in front of the prison for two days in
the hope of receiving a letter as proof of life, according to daughter Mona
Seif — warns her son may only have “a day or two or three at most”.
In a message
posted on Facebook, Soueif directed an appeal to world leaders at the COP27
summit rather than the Egyptian authorities.
Activists at
COP27 have posted prolifically on Twitter under the hashtag
#FreeAlaa, and
several speakers have ended their speeches with the words “you have not yet
been defeated” — the title of his book, prefaced by Canadian author Naomi
Klein.
Sunak said
Monday that the case is “a priority”, demanding it be “resolved as soon as
possible”.
Macron said he
had received an assurance that Sisi is “committed to ensuring that (the) health
of Alaa Abdel Fattah is preserved” and that the situation will be resolved “in
the coming weeks and months”.
German
Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday said that “his release must be possible, so
that this hunger strike does not end in death,” adding that “we should be
afraid that this could lead to dreadful consequences”.
Turk said he
“deeply regrets” Egypt had not released Abdel Fattah, warning that his “life is
in great danger”.
UN Special
Rapporteur on Freedom of Association Clement Voule echoed calls for Abdel
Fattah’s immediate release, noting his “life is at risk”.
“I remind Egypt
authorities that civic participation is key to advancing climate justice,”
Voule said.
On Tuesday, a
press conference led by Abdel Fattah’s sister Sanaa Seif — on the sidelines of
the COP27 summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh — was disrupted by an
Egyptian parliamentarian.
“We are talking
about an Egyptian citizen detained for a criminal offense, he is not a
political prisoner,” said pro-government lawmaker Amr Darwish, who was escorted
out of a COP27 hall by UN security. “Do not try to use the West against Egypt.”
‘Force fed’?
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, the COP27 president, told CNBC
television that Abdel Fattah — whose dual citizenship Cairo does not recognize
— has access to “all the necessary care in prison”.
Sanaa Seif said
Shoukry’s talk of “care” raises concerns her brother is potentially being
“force-fed” with intravenous drips.
“Is he
handcuffed to a bed, on IVs against his will?” she said.
Cairo has faced
intensifying criticism of its long deplored human rights record since it was
announced as the host of the
COP27 climate summit last year, a move rights
groups said “rewards the repressive rule” of Sisi.
Three Egyptian
journalists also continued a hunger strike for a second day, demanding “the
release of all political prisoners in Egypt”.
Rights groups
say such prisoners number some 60,000, a claim denied by Cairo.
Abdel Fattah’s
continued detention comes despite Egypt having granted presidential pardons to
a total of 766 political prisoners since the reactivation of a pardon policy in
April this year, according to data compiled by Amnesty.
But over the
same period close to double that number have been jailed for their activism,
Amnesty says.
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