The prominent activist, who has spent most of the past decade behind bars in Egypt, has suffered repeated bouts of vomiting over the past week, according to a letter he wrote to his family on Saturday.
Abdel Fattah went on hunger strike on March 1, after learning that his mother Laila Soueif had been hospitalised on her own hunger strike in London, where she has campaigned for his release.
Since then, Abdel Fattah has consumed only herbal tea, black coffee and rehydration salts, according to the family, who say he is being treated by prison doctors for suspected damage to his stomach and intestines.
Soueif — now consuming 300 calories a day — has staged her hunger strike for 205 days, since the day Abdel Fattah was meant to be released from jail after serving five years for “spreading false news”.
In a letter to his family, Abdel Fattah wrote that the inflammation in his stomach “is getting worse” and that the medications were making him “dizzy” and impairing his vision.
Soueif, 68, has not eaten solid food since September. She was hospitalised in London in February with life-threateningly low blood sugar levels.
In March, she moved to a partial hunger strike, agreeing to 300 daily calories via liquid supplement, after Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he had “pressed” for her son’s release in a call with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Soueif said she is “very worried” about her son’s health, adding that he “was supposed to be with them, not in prison and on hunger strike”.
On Tuesday Abdel Fattah’s sister Sanaa Seif, also a former political prisoner, said: “My mum and my brother are literally putting their bodies on the line.”
“I’m always afraid that we are on the verge of a tragedy,” she added, calling on Starmer to “do all he can to bring Alaa home to us”.
Abdel Fattah, 43, Egypt’s most prominent political prisoner, last went on hunger strike in 2022.
He survived on 100 calories a day for seven months, making headlines during a UN climate summit hosted by Egypt.
Human rights groups have called on Sisi to pardon him.
In 2022, Sisi relaunched a presidential pardons committee which has released a number of high-profile political prisoners, including Abdel Fattah’s lawyer Mohamed al-Baqer.
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© Agence France-Presse
