Jailed British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah has ended a months-long hunger strike, his family said on Tuesday, after fears for his health mounted and criticism of Cairo during the ongoing COP27 climate summit.

Abdel Fattah, who ate “just 100 calories a day” for seven months, escalated his strike, first to all food, then water, as the COP27 climate summit opened on November 6 in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

“I ended the strike,” the activist wrote in the letter he gave to his family on Tuesday but was dated the previous day and shared by his sister Mona Seif.

Abdel Fattah, 40, wrote to his mother: “I want to celebrate my birthday with you on Thursday”.

He asked them to “bring a cake” to their monthly visit to Wadi al-Natroun prison, some 100 kilometers north-west of the capital Cairo.

Abdel Fattah, a key figure in the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak, has since spent much of the past decade behind bars.

He is currently serving a five-year sentence for “spreading false news” by sharing a Facebook post about police brutality.

He’s been making headlines since the UN climate talks began last week in Egypt, which tried to boost its image by hosting COP27 but has come under fire for its human rights record.

International pressure has increased since leaders arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh last week. Several raised the case at bilateral meetings with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, most recently with US President Joe Biden on Friday.

Activists have been widely posting on Twitter using the hashtag #FreeAlaa, and several speakers at the summit ended by saying, “They haven’t been defeated yet” – the title of Abdel Fattah’s book, which he published while behind bars.

Fears had increased that prison authorities would force-feed Abdel Fattah after his mother was told he was being placed “under medical supervision”.

His sister Sanaa Seif was repeatedly abused by pro-government participants when she lobbied for his release at COP27, including a member of parliament who had to be escorted out by UN security forces.

On Friday, Mona Seif said the family had filed a new request for a presidential pardon.

The appeal was taken up by one of Egypt’s most watched talk show hosts, ardent pro-Sisi Amr Adib.

On Friday, Adib said on prime-time television that the pardon was “primarily in Egypt’s interests.”