CAIRO (Dispatches) – The sister of jailed Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah has begun a hunger strike in solidarity with her brother, who has himself spent more than 70 days on his own fast in protest at his jail treatment.
In a post on Facebook, Mona Seif said she had visited her brother in prison for the first time since 1 May and was shocked at his frail condition, saying he had “lost a lot of weight.”
Abd el-Fattah, who was an icon of the 2011 Egyptian revolution, has spent eight out of the last 10 years in jail on a range of charges.
While incarcerated in December 2021, he was sentenced to five years in prison by an emergency state security court on charges of spreading “false news”, in a trial widely condemned by human rights defenders. The evidence used against him was a retweet.
He began a hunger strike on 2 April and was that same month given British citizenship through his mother, Laila Soueif.
However, his sister wrote on Facebook that the UK government had so far refused to acknowledge his strike and said that the foreign office was not doing enough to ensure consular access - so far denied for more than six months - for one of their citizens in prison.
“If the Egyptian regime think they can obscure Alaa’s hunger strike, and the British government is willing to tiptoe cautiously around the severity of the situation, then I, Alaa’s sister, will use my body to show the FCDO (foreign office) officials what’s happening to Alaa’s body, and to echo his hunger strike,” she wrote.
In another development in Egypt, a radio presenter has filmed herself being beaten and assaulted by her manager in the offices of the Wast al-Delta radio station in Tanta city, after she demanded her unpaid salary.
The footage shows Amani al-Sabah, the chief presenter at the state-owned station, being attacked by Hani Amasha, its managing director.
Sabah, 59, filed a police complaint against Amasha, 51, on Tuesday, accusing him of beating her and causing an injury to her left foot and bruises to her face.
During the incident, which went viral on social media, Amasha is seen threatening Sabah and telling her several times that: “No one will make you behave except me,” before attacking her.
He later tells her to undress and film herself, adding “you’re mentally ill and need treatment,” before disappearing along a long corridor where Sabah is standing.