COP 27: 200 day hunger strike

Jailed British-Egyptian human rights activist and blogger, Alaa Abdel Fattah has consumed just 100 calories for more than 200 days to push Egypt to allow him UK consular access.

40-year-old Fattah is pushing for Rishi Sunak to help release him after the climate summit opened in Sharm el- Sheikh in Egypt on Sunday. Rishi Sunak has said he will raise the issue at the COP summit.

 Abdel Fattah, a key activist in the 2011 Arab Spring, is currently serving a five-year sentence for spreading false news. Fattah was detained since 29 September 2019 pending investigations into charges of “joining a terrorist group/ funding a terrorist group” and using social media to commit “publishing offences according to Amnesty International UK.

Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard warned he may only have 72 hours to live. Even his sister, Sanaa Seif warned that her brother’s hunger and water strike could potentially mean he could die before the end of the summit.

He received British citizenship in December 2021 through his London-born mother and is entitled to consular access which means Foreign government officials are entitled to communicate with and visit their nationals in jails and prisons to check on their well-being.

The Egyptian government claim there aren’t any political prisoners in the country.