The mother of jailed Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abdel Fattah announced on Tuesday that she was returning to a full hunger strike to protest against her son’s lengthy imprisonment in Egypt.
Laila Soueif, 69, eased her strike in March after UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he had “pressed” for Fattah’s release in a call with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
She began consuming 300 calories a day through a liquid nutritional supplement but still went without food.
With her son still languishing in jail two months later, Soueif said it was time to return to taking just rehydration salts, tea without sugar and vitamins.
“I’m going to be on full hunger strike, which means I take zero calories,” she told AFP outside Downing Street, home to Starmer’s official residence.
Soueif said she would also return to protesting outside Downing Street for an hour every day during the week, following a brief pause after Starmer’s intervention.
The London-based mother began her protest on September 29, 2024, which she said marked the day Fattah was due to be released after completing a five-year sentence.
Fattah, 43, a pro-democracy and rights campaigner, was arrested by Egyptian authorities in September 2019 and given a five-year sentence for “spreading false news”.
He was a key figure in the 2011 revolt that toppled Egyptian autocrat Hosni Mubarak and was given UK citizenship in 2022 through his British-born mother.
Fattah launched his own hunger strike on March 1 after hearing about his mother’s admission to hospital, which he continues, according to the campaign group.
Soueif, a mathematician and activist, was in February admitted to a London hospital with dangerously low blood sugar and blood pressure, and given a glucose drip.
