Who is the political prisoner who has been on hunger strike for 200 days in Egypt and could die during COP27

A militant in favor of democracy, Alaa Abdel Fattah was one of the main figures in the popular uprising that led to the fall of Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011, during the Arab Revolt demonstrations. Sentenced to five years in prison for “spreading false information”, Fattah began a hunger strike more than 200 days ago and is trying to bring his case to the world’s attention during the COP27 Climate Summit.

On a hunger strike, Fattah has been eating only tea with milk and a spoonful of honey a day since April 2, according to his family. As of this Sunday (6), when the Climate Summit in Egypt begins, the militant stopped any form of nutrition, putting his own life at risk.

An opponent of the Egyptian government, Fattah has been in prison since 2019 and was sentenced to five years in prison for “spreading false information”. He and his family denounced to the international community a political arrest to silence this democracy activist.

Opposition leadership

At 40, Alaa Abdel Fattah is Egypt’s best-known prisoner. A programmer by training, this political activist was one of the icons of the 2011 uprising in Egypt that brought the government of Hosni Mubarak to an end.

Since then, the activist has continued to use his voice to call for democracy and oppose the country’s rulers, which has led to his arrest several times.

Between 2014 and 2019, Fattah was arrested for participating in a demonstration. Released from detention, the activist enjoyed his freedom for just six months, when he was arrested again after he posted a tweet about the suspected death of a prisoner.

In 2020, his name was added to the Egyptian government’s terrorist list, and in December he was sentenced to five years in prison for “spreading false information”.

At the time, his mother, Laila Soueif, denounced the unfair conditions of the process. “This is not a judicial conviction, this is a political decision,” she said. According to the family, Fattah’s lawyers were not given access to the indictment before the trial.

Faced with this, Fattah decided in April to start a hunger strike.

Complaint of political arrest

Since April, Fattah has had British nationality, which allows UK authorities to try to negotiate his freedom. However, in seven months the only improvement was in the improvement of the conditions of his prison.

In May, the prisoner was transferred to a penitentiary that has a medical center, a few hundred kilometers from Cairo, to reduce the possibility of death of the famous political prisoner. And, according to his family, he now has a mattress to sleep on.

The total interruption of their nutrition is now an attempt to use the spotlight in Egypt during the Climate Summit to fight for their freedom.

On Saturday (5), Fattah’s family received a message of support from the new British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. “The UK’s participation in COP27 is a new opportunity to negotiate your brother’s case with the Egyptian authorities. We are fully committed to resolving this case,” wrote the British Prime Minister.

Alaa Abdel Fattah “is a priority for the British government both as a human rights activist and as a British citizen,” Sunak said.

Fattah’s case is just one more in what Amnesty International calls a “human rights crisis” in the country ruled by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi since 2014. The NGO estimates the existence of around 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt.