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At the UN climate convention in Egypt, world leaders suggested Egypt’s president Alaa Abd El Fattah, who has been on hunger strike for more than seven months.
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By Viviane Ye
CAIRO (AP) — Alaa Abd El Fattah, the jailed British-Egyptian dissident who went on hunger strike for more than seven months to try to win his freedom, has broken his strike even though his family remains behind bars. said Tuesday.
Mr. Abd El Fattah, who according to his circle of relatives had fed himself one hundred calories a day of milk and honey in his tea for almost seven months before starting a hunger strike on November 1, stopped drinking water on November 6, the day Two weeks ago, the UN-sponsored meteorological convention opened at the Egyptian hotel in Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea.
This ensured that his call would cloud the debate. For days, Egyptian officials who had perceived holding the summit as a chance to gain long-sought prestige were beset by questions about their best-known political prisoner. The leaders of the United States, France, Germany and Great Britain, where Mr. Abd El Fattah has dual citizenship, all raised in personal meetings with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Despite increasing pressure on the Egyptian government to release Mr. Abd El Fattah, there is no indication that his hunger strike will lead to his release.
In a brief handwritten note dated at four o’clock on Monday afternoon, Abd El Fattah asked his mother, Laila Soueif, to bring him food on his stopover at Wadi el-Natroun prison on Thursday, his birthday, according to his circle of relatives, who won the letter. on Tuesday. But he did not specify why he made the decision to eat again. He also started drinking water on Saturday, he told his circle of relatives in an earlier letter that they won on Monday.
“I need to celebrate my birthday with you on Thursday, I haven’t celebrated for a long time and I need to celebrate with my cellmates, so bring a cake, general provisions, I broke my strike,” he wrote to Mrs. Soueif. In the most recent letter, which his circle of relatives said was in his hand. “On Thursday I send you everything. “
While his circle of family expressed relief that he was alive and supposedly healthy, they, and the activists, celebrities and Nobel laureates around the world who had launched their aid in his crusade for his release, did not know what to make of the events.
Family members said they had no further information about what motivated Mr. Abd El Fattah, but expected to receive more information on Thursday, the date of his 20-minute monthly family visit, when relatives can bring food. and other supplies.
His circle of relatives said last Thursday that they had learned that the criminal government had initiated a “medical intervention” in M. Abd El Fattah. Without further information, they feared he would be force-fed. He began refusing the water, as his lawyer, Khaled Ali, denied access 3 times despite receiving official visiting permits.
Abd El Fattah and his supporters hoped to use the world’s attention on Egypt at the climate summit to increase tension for their freedom. Given that the convention ends later this week, it’s unclear where the crusade is headed.
“I am cautiously relieved now to know that at least he is not on hunger strike,” Mona Seif, one of his sisters, said on a Tuesday, “but my center probably won’t calm down until Thursday, when my mother and sister will see it with their own eyes.
Egypt, which has continuously questioned the fact that Mr. Abd El Fattah was on hunger strike or had British citizenship, has only hardened its position in reaction to foreign pressure for his release.
Pro-government media and government supporters began saying that Mr. Abd El Fattah, convicted in 2019 for spreading false news in a social media post detailing human rights violations in prison, was a convicted thief who did not deserve special treatment.
An Egyptian lawmaker and Egyptians repeating the government line clashed with his sister Sanaa Seif at public events at the summit.
Some government supporters have misrepresented previous social media posts by M. Abd El Fattah, who was deeply concerned about Egypt’s 2011 Arab Spring revolution, reported that he had incited violence against the Egyptian army and police.
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