Families fear Egyptian activist Alaa Abdelfata ‘destined to die in prison’ after refusal of food and water at COP27

Egyptian pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel Fattah (left) with her sister Sana Seif. A 2014 file photo posted by Safe on Facebook. The photo was taken when his father, who was also a human rights activist, passed away. Both brothers were incarcerated at the time, so they were unable to visit their father in hospital.

Facebook/Sana Safe


Alaa Abdel Fattah, a prominent pro-democracy activist who spent most of the past eight years in prison in Egypt, refuse all food and water as the United Nations COP27 Climate Conference Begins Over the weekend, his family said. The aim of his escalating protests is to create enough international pressure on the Egyptian government to secure his release.

A dual citizen of Egypt and the United Kingdom, Allah, who was a key figure in the pro-democracy “Arab Spring” movement more than a decade ago, has been in power during the tenure of Egypt’s current authoritarian president, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. , has been effectively imprisoned in Egypt. Since 2014. Alaa’s family and human rights groups have called the charges against Alaa false.

“I’m scared of Allah, but I also really understand his decision to escalate, because he’s destined to die in prison,” she said earlier in an Egyptian prison for her rights activism. “Maybe the way to save him is to tighten the timeline a bit, and there might be enough pressure to save him.”

Sana Seif (left), sister of imprisoned Egyptian pro-democracy activist Allah Abdel Fattah, poses with British Green Party MP Caroline Lucas outside the Foreign Office in London on November 1, 2022. ing.

Kin Chang/AP


Mr Seif, who also holds dual Egyptian and British citizenship, left London late last week to travel to Egypt to attend the COP27 summit as a delegate, vowing to continue to draw attention to his brother’s case. Her trip came after she spent days camping outside the British Foreign Office.

Saif, who arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday for the summit, told Reuters he was there “to shed light on my brother’s case and do my best to save him.”

“I’m really worried,” she said. “I am here to put pressure on all the leaders that come, especially [U.K.] Prime Minister Rishi Snak. ”

Hunger and water striker Sana Seif, sister of Egypt’s imprisoned leading pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, arrived at Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport in northeastern Egypt on November 7, 2022. I’m leaving soon.

STF/AP


Last week, Seif was told that Alaa was a priority for the UK government, and Sunak sent a letter to his family saying he would use the UK’s attendance at COP27 as another opportunity to raise the issue.

“I will continue to emphasize to President Sisi the importance of a speedy resolution of the Allah case and an end to the unacceptable treatment,” Sunak wrote.

Agnes Calamar, executive director of human rights group Amnesty International, said: “Let’s be very clear: time is running out if authorities do not want deaths that could otherwise have been prevented. We must act now,” he said. , told an Egyptian journalist on Sunday. “If they don’t, that death will live up to COP27. It’s in every debate – every debate will be Alaa.”

The El-Sisi government is trying to use the hosting of the COP27 meeting as an “internal show of power,” Mr Seif said, claiming: climate change Without political freedom, we cannot work meaningfully.

“You’re facing the profits of the big oil companies and the like. The improvements we get are coming from the pressure of civil society and activists, marginalized and vulnerable communities,” she told CBS News. “To solve the climate crisis, we need an open environment where people can express themselves. We can call politicians and hold them accountable. Egypt doesn’t have that space.”

Seif still hopes his brother will be freed so he can leave Egypt and join his family in England, but if he didn’t survive, he would have made a difference. she said.

The Egyptian regime “used him to set an example for others…this is something he did not choose to do,” she told CBS News. “I am proud that he lived by this example.” Instead of being an example of oppression, a symbol of oppression, he became a symbol of resistance and resilience.”



https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cop27-egypt-human-rights-alaa-abdel-fattah-die-in-prison-family-fear-hunger-strike-no-water/ Families fear Egyptian activist Alaa Abdelfata ‘destined to die in prison’ after refusal of food and water at COP27

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