The White House has expressed “deep concern” about jailed British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, who is on hunger strike and has begun refusing water to coincide with the COP27 climate summit. “We are in high-level communication with the Egyptian government about this case, we are deeply concerned about it, we would like to see him released,” US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters in Washington on Thursday. Senior United States officials said Tuesday that President Joe Biden will raise the issue of human rights during his meeting with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The White House made the statement after the activist’s lawyer said he was denied access to Abd el-Fattah, despite being authorized for such a visit by the Interior Ministry. Concern for Abd el-Fattah’s fate is growing as he continues to go on hunger strike to protest his years-long detention by Egyptian authorities on charges of spreading disinformation. For the past six months he has been on a partial hunger strike of 100 calories a day. He stopped all calorie intake and began refusing water on Sunday, the first day of the COP27 world climate summit held in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Abd el-Fattah rose to prominence as a leading pro-democracy activist and blogger during Egypt’s 2011 popular uprising that forced former president Hosni Mubarak to step down after 30 years in power. The 40-year-old has spent most of the last decade behind bars. Earlier this week, Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned that Abd el-Fattah was in great danger and called on Egypt to release him immediately. “His dry hunger strike puts his life in grave danger,” Turkish spokeswoman Ravina Samdasani told a news conference in Geneva. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office said the leader had raised the issue of the activist’s arrest with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi during a meeting between the pair on Monday on the sidelines of the COP27 summit. “The prime minister said he hopes to see this resolved as soon as possible and will continue to push for progress,” Sunak’s office said in a statement. Meanwhile, Abd el-Fattah’s family said they were told by prison authorities that the activist is “under medical intervention”, possibly meaning he is being force-fed – an act that amounts to torture. Abd el-Fattah’s mother, Laila Soueif, traveled Thursday to the Wadi el-Natroun prison where he is being held, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Cairo. There he was informed that “a medical intervention was performed … with the knowledge of judicial authorities,” his sister, Mona Seif, wrote on Twitter. The nature of the intervention was not known, but the family have expressed fears that prison officials would force-feed Abd el-Fattah. His sister also disputed the Egyptian prosecutor’s claim that Abd el-Fattah was “in good health”. Late on Thursday, the Egyptian prosecutor claimed that “all his vital signs … are normal” and that “he is in good health and does not need to be taken to the hospital.” “Lies!” Mona Seif wrote on Facebook, adding that the authorities were violently intervening to “deny” his hunger strike “so he wouldn’t die”.
