A mother who has gone on hunger strike after her activist son was detained in Egypt is calling on the foreign secretary to act fast – with time, she says, “running out”.
Laila Soueif told Sky News her son, Alaa Abd el Fattah, who has been in prison for most of the past decade, “has to come out now” as she fears her health will deteriorate if she has to carry on starving herself over his ongoing detention.
The 68-year-old has been living on water and rehydration salts since 29 September, the day after Mr Fattah was meant to be released following a five-year prison sentence for “disseminating false news” after retweeting a report in 2019 that another prisoner died in custody.
The 43-year-old has been in prison more or less continuously since 2014 over his role in the pro-democracy Arab Spring protests in 2011.
The British Egyptian spent six months as a free man before being rearrested in 2019 and handed a “completely unfair sentence” in 2021.
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Ms Soueif, who is meeting Foreign Secretary David Lammy to discuss the case on Wednesday, said he has reassured her that getting her son released was a “priority” and discussions were taking place with Egyptian counterparts.
But the maths professor said the same reassurances were given to her by the Conservatives over their last two years of government.
“I expected something different from Mr Lammy,” she said while pointing to how as shadow foreign secretary, he urged the Tories to act as “there were measures the British government could take”.
“So now that he is foreign secretary I expect him to implement some of those measures,” she said.
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Ms Soueif said she will be seeking proof of progress when she meets Mr Lammy on Wednesday.
“We are all running out of time, I’ve already been on this strike for 60 days I am still functioning semi-normally but I can’t expect that to last,” she said.
“I don’t want to have my health collapse or to die. I am sure Mr Lammy would be very embarrassed if that happens.”
The Foreign Office has been contacted for comment, as have Egyptian authorities, including their embassy in London and governate in Cairo.
