Mum ‘prepared to die’ after 130 days of hunger strike for imprisoned son

Laila Soueif, 68, has been sitting outside 10 Downing Street for 130 days on a hunger strike.

She is a mother who is trying to win freedom for her son who has spent five years in a prison in Egypt.

Laila has consumed nothing but herbal tea, black coffee and rehydration salts during her time outside the gates of power.

Alaa Abd el-Fattah, her son, is accused of ‘spreading false news’ on social media which included ‘liking’ a Facebook post describing torture in Egyptian prisons.

He was sentenced to five years in prison in September 2019 and was due to be released in September 2024.

But Egyptian authorities refused to count the more than two years he had spent in pre-trial detention and ordered him held until January 3, 2027.

Laila said: ‘The great majority of mothers are prepared to die for their children; it just takes different forms.

‘Most mothers, if their children are in actual danger, you’re prepared to die.

‘Nobody should be imprisoned for speech or writing — nobody,’ she said.

‘People, particularly people in countries that pretend to be democracies and that abide by the rule of law, should not allow this kind of thing.’

Alaa took part in the 2011 uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak and is one of the country’s most prominent pro-democracy activists.

He also went on hunger strike when Egypt hosted the COP27 climate conference – a strike which ended in him losing consciousness and being brought around again with water.

Laila is calling on the government to put pressure on Egypt because Alaa has both British and Egyptian citizenship.

She said: ‘Now that Donald Trump has upset the whole world, they actually need allies…

‘So, in fact, I think it’s time for the Egyptian government to look to its European allies and to its allies among the Egyptian people. Freeing other political prisoners in Egypt would be a good thing to do right now.’

It is not just Alaa who has been a victim, thousands of others have been imprisoned in Egypt for their criticism of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

As many as 60,000 political prisoners are behind bars in Egypt, according to Human Rights Watch.

This is despite El-Sisi telling US news programme ’60 Minutes’ in 2019 that the country had no political prisoners.

Senior researcher from Human Rights Watch Amr Magdi said: ‘What we are seeing under (el-Sissi’s) government is that this kind of repression is endless. It’s relentless.’

A spokesman for Egypt’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on Alaa’s continued detention, according to AP.

The Foreign Office said in a statement: ‘Our priority remains securing the release of Mr (Abd el-Fattah) so that he can be reunited with his family.’

Laila added: ‘I’m going on until either Alaa is released or I collapse. And I don’t know how long that will be.’

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