CAIRO (Middle East Eye) – The condition of an Egyptian man has significantly worsened as he surpassed 20 days of a hunger strike during his sit-in outside the Ministry of Justice in Seoul, South Korea.
Fathi Okil, aged 52, initiated the hunger strike as a final and desperate measure to protest against the repeated denial of his political asylum application over a period of nine years. In a last-ditch effort to pressure the Korean authorities into granting his application, Okil started his strike 24 days ago after his plea was rejected for the third time.
Okil, who has camped in a tent outside the ministry in Seoul for six months, has been seeking asylum in South Korea since he fled Egypt in fear of political persecution in 2014.
He told Middle East Eye over the phone that he wears two pyjamas and a jumper and covers himself with a duvet to keep himself warm during Seoul’s chilly nights.
“I only drink water and salt. I boil water to drink it hot, to warm myself inside the tent,” he said.
Okil is stuck in South Korea with other Egyptians who have also been denied asylum. He has decided to launch a hunger strike “until death”, as life has become unbearable.
“I lived terrible days in the past nine years. I slept in the streets, metro stations and parks. I ate from the rubbish at some point. Last Friday, I fell unconscious in my tent because of the cold,” he said.
“Employees from the immigration department checked on me and asked for an ambulance, but I refused to be hospitalized.”
Okil was a political activist from the Dakahlia governorate and a member of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), led by former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi.
In the summer of 2013, army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi led a military coup that ousted Morsi, Egypt’s first elected president, and has been in power ever since.
The FJP, which was formed by the Muslim Brotherhood, was dissolved and its members faced widespread persecution, with hundreds arrested and some tortured. Others fled to Europe, Turkey and some as far as Seoul.
Senior Muslim Brotherhood figures, including Morsi, were also detained.
Okil was detained for six months in Egypt for his opposition to the Sisi government, and after he was released in 2014 he fled to South Korea.
“I have been protesting in the tent for the past six months. I’ve lost 15 kilograms, and suffer from low blood sugar, and my hearing has weakened,” he said.
“I have a headache, pain in my stomach, and shortness of breath... all my body is aching at the moment.”
Okil’s repeated pleas to the South Korean government to grant him asylum have so far fallen on deaf ears, and he now faces deportation.