The family of jailed Egyptian dissident Alaa Abdel Fattah said prison authorities told them on Thursday he was “under medical treatment” amid mounting fears that it would mean being force-fed.
The family has repeatedly demanded information on the health of the British-Egyptian activist in recent days after he extended his month-long hunger strike to include water.
His mother, Laila Soueif, in Wadi al-Natroun prison north of Cairo, was informed that Abdel Fattah “had undergone a medical procedure with the knowledge of the legal authorities,” his sister Mona Seif wrote on Twitter.
“They should allow our mother to see him right away and see for herself how he’s doing,” added Seif.
Abdel Fattah, a longtime democracy and rights activist, is serving a five-year sentence for “spreading false news” for sharing a Facebook post about police brutality.
International concern has grown since 40-year-old Abdel Fattah also began the drop in liquids since Sunday, the start of Egypt-hosted COP27 UN climate change summit.
Since then, his mother had visited Wadi al-Natroun prison, about 100 kilometers from Cairo, asking for news.
On Thursday, an officer told her that her son was “under medical treatment,” but gave no further details.
Hossam Bahgat, founder of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), the country’s largest human rights organization, said the prison officer’s testimony “means that he is being force-fed.”
– ‘Hidden behind high walls’ –
Abdel Fattah, a key figure in the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak, gained British citizenship this year.
“Surely our mum should see him or someone from @UKinEgypt (British Embassy in Cairo) so we can understand his real health status!” Seif added on Twitter.
The dissident’s aunt, writer Ahdaf Soueif, said earlier this week the family was concerned about “rumours of force-feeding and sleeping pills”.
She demanded that the British-Egyptian activist be transferred to Qasr al-Aini University Hospital, Cairo’s largest state medical facility, and be given access to lawyers and British embassy officials.
She said she fears “the prison hospital probably isn’t equipped” to care for a patient who has been living “on 100 calories a day” for months.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have all expressed their concern and called for his release.
UN chief justice Volker Turk has warned Abdel Fattah’s “life is in grave danger”.
Activists at the COP27 summit in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh posted widely on Twitter using the hashtag #FreeAlaa, and several speakers ended by saying “They have not been defeated yet” – the title of the jailed activist’s book.
On Thursday, hundreds of COP27 participants dressed in white like Egyptian prisoners shouted “Free him!” and “no climate justice without human rights!”.
Others shouted, “Free them all!” in reference to the 60,000 political prisoners who rights groups say are being held in the country, many of them in brutal conditions and overcrowded cells — allegations Cairo denies.
“We are conducting this action to draw attention to those who are invisible, hidden behind high walls, imprisoned in the country hosting COP27 – and around the world,” said one of the organizers, George Galvis.
– “Unacceptable insult” –
The issue is particularly sensitive in Egypt, which ranks 135th out of 140 countries in the World Justice Project’s rule of law index.
As international criticism mounts, a counter-campaign has grown.
An Egyptian lawmaker protested during a press conference by Sanaa Seif, the other sister of Alaa Abdel Fattah, at COP27 – before being banned from UN security – and another has called on parliament to protest.
The Egyptian mission in Geneva criticized the UN Turk’s intervention, saying his “characterization of a court decision as ‘unfair’ was an unacceptable insult.”
A lawyer has also filed a complaint against Sanaa Seif for “conspiracy with foreigners” and “misinformation,” according to activists calling for Abdel Fattah’s release.
Prosecutors have yet to rule on the charge, the same possible charge of disseminating “false information” for which Abdel Fattah himself was jailed.
He had shared a post – written by someone else – accusing an officer of killing an inmate under torture.
