The sister of Egyptian rights activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah, who began to refuse even water after more than two hundred days of limited hunger strike at the start of the COP27 weather conference, directly pleaded with President Biden to help her save her brother’s life. of Biden’s meeting Friday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Sanaa Seif said the American leader could “make a difference here. “
“President Biden, you said more blank checks. He’s shown that he cares and that he’s at least better than his predecessors, and that’s really essential,” Seif said in a message to CBS News. “It can save Alaa, and it can show that there is hope and perspective for common sense, freedom, democracy. Please don’t let us down. “
Biden met el-Sisi shortly after arriving in Sharm el-Sheikh on Friday, addressing a closed-door assembly after making brief comments to the media. Among other things, el-Sisi said his administration was addressing human rights in Egypt. Biden said the two leaders will discuss a “full diversity of bilateral issues” and “continue our discussion on human rights. “
Biden then delivered a speech to delegates and media amassed at the conference, where the issue of human rights was not discussed. After his speech, when asked by reporters if he had discussed Abdel-Fattah with al-Sisi, Biden replied, “What have we talked about is our relationship. “
The White House on Thursday expressed “deep concern” for Abdel-Fattah. The jailed activist, who has dual Egyptian-British citizenship, has been a prominent figure in the pro-democracy “Arab Spring” movement more than a decade ago. He has been imprisoned in Egypt for the height of el-Sisi, Egypt’s current authoritarian president, since 2014. His circle of family members and human rights teams describe the charges against him as politically motivated and false.
“We have been in high-level communication with the Egyptian government about this case. We are deeply involved in that. We would like to see him released,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Thursday.
“I’m afraid. I’m panicking,” said Seif, who is also a human rights activist and has been jailed several times in her home country. She attends the United Nations climate convention at the Egyptian hotel in Sharm el-Sheikh. in an effort to sneak in the leaders piled up there for his brother’s release.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said they raised Abdel-Fattah’s case directly with al-Sisi on the sidelines of the conference, and French media reported that el-Sisi told French President Emmanuel Macron that the activist’s physical condition “remained. “”
On Thursday, Abdel-Fattah’s circle of relatives was informed that he had undergone “medical intervention,” but they were not allowed to see or speak to him, and they do not know what the “intervention” is. His lawyer said he was turning away a felon when, regardless, he was granted a visitation permit on Thursday because it was issued on the wrong date.
“We are intimidated, and they keep giving us other information. . . One moment they recognize that he’s on hunger strike, and then they decide, ‘no, he’s eating,’ and nobody recognizes the water strike and, I do. I guess he’s somewhere in a hospital, handcuffed to his bed and put on an IV line, and I hope nothing contrary to his will has happened. Seif told CBS News.