British-Egyptian political prisoner Alaa Abdel Fattah, who has been on a hunger strike for seven months in a prison near Cairo, is "under medical treatment", the prison authority told his family on Thursday, raising fears that be force-fed.
“We need our mum or a British embassy representative to see him so we can find out what state of health he really is in,” his sister, Mona Seif, tweeted.
Since Alaa Abdel Fattah stopped drinking last Sunday, the opening day of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, her mother Laila Soueif has been going to the Wadi Natrun prison, 100 kilometers northwest of Cairo, every day without getting any news.
On Thursday, an officer told his mother that the detainee was "under medical treatment" and that "the prosecution had been informed." Neither the family nor the lawyers had been notified, accuses Mona Seif. And no details about this "medical treatment" were given.
For Hossam Bahgat, founder of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), the country's largest human rights NGO, "it means he is being force-fed."
His aunt, the writer Ahdaf Soueif, had demanded on Wednesday his "emergency" transfer to the Qasr al-Aini university hospital in Cairo, arguing that the prison hospital was not equipped to treat a patient who did not eat more than 100 calories. a day since April.
While his defenders give him only a few days to live, unless he is force-fed, which international law considers "torture" and even a "crime against humanity", the mobilization grows.
On Thursday, hundreds of COP27 participants dressed in white as Egyptian prisoners chanted "Freedom for all!" in reference to the more than 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt, according to the NGO.
Meanwhile, Italian activist Giorgio Caracciolo was "prohibited from going to COP27 despite having a valid visa," announced the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).
The issue of prisoners in Egypt, country 135 out of 140 in the world ranking of the rule of law of the World Justice Project, is unavoidable at COP27. Several Western leaders have demanded Alaa Abdel Fattah's release from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
But in the face of international mobilization, a counter-campaign has also been organized. An MP clashed with Sanaa Seif, Alaa Abdel Fattah's other sister, at COP27 before being ousted by UN security agents. Seif participated in a press conference and a round table with the heads of Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch (HRW).
On the other hand, a lawyer has filed a complaint against Sanaa Seif for "conspiracy with foreigners" and "false information", according to the campaign for the release of Alaa Abdel Fattah.
It was for this same charge of spreading "false information" that his brother was sentenced to five years in prison in late 2021 after sharing a post, written by someone else, accusing an officer of killing a detainee after being tortured. Since Al Sisi came to power in 2013, Alaa Abdelfatah has spent much of his time behind bars.
