'Alaa must be released now': Laila Soueif resumes hunger strike

Laila Soueif, mother of wrongly imprisoned British-Egyptian citizen Alaa Abd el-Fattah, has resumed a full hunger strike to demand her son’s release from Egyptian prison. El-Fattah finished his latest sentence in September but remains incarcerated just north of Cairo.

Until today Souief was consuming just 300 calories a day, having switched to a partial hunger strike in response to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s phone call to President Sisi of Egypt where he ‘pressed’ for el-Fattah’s release on 28 February. Prior to the call she hadn't eaten any food since 29 September 2024, the day her son was due for release, and was admitted to hospital on the 149th day of her strike.

‘Let me be clear about why I am doing this,’ Soueif addressed reporters outside the prime minister's office this morning. ‘It is not that I doubt the British government’s commitment to Alaa’s release. Nor do I want to cast doubt on Mr. Starmer’s personal interest in the plight of my family [...] But for Alaa sitting in prison, now on hunger strike for 81 days since the first of March, nothing has changed.’

Souief said Starmer had written a 'truly humane letter' assuring her of his support. She said this escalation in her protest is to put pressure on the government to act quickly.

'I am almost 90% that by the end of this Alaa will be released. But I'm not entirely sure it will be enough to save my health, because as Alaa puts it, "Governments are like dinosaurs. They move very slowly".'

Looking frail but stoic in a dark purple suit, Soueif said she felt ‘strong’. Despite having lost 49 percent of her original body weight since her original hunger strike began, she was smiling warmly and answered all questions at length.

‘I’m feeling much stronger than I expected, and like any stubborn person, when I’m doing something like this press conference I feel like I can do anything,’ she said, managing a small chuckle.

El-Fattah, who comes from a family of activists, was first arrested at a 2006 protest demanding an independent judiciary in Egypt, and was released after 45 days. Active during the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, he rose to international prominence as a result of his political writing.

In September 2019 he was arrested and sent to prison, where he remains today, facing charges of spreading ‘false news undermining state security’. El-Fatteh is currently staging his own hunger strike to protest the inhumane conditions in prison.

Last week, Souief returned from visiting her son at Wadi El-Natrun prison, north of Cairo. It was the first time she had been with him since October last year, and she was only permitted to see him from behind glass.

Standing next to Souief outside Downing Street today, Fiona O’Brien, the UK director of Reporters Without Borders said: ‘We’re deeply concerned about his physical and mental health and, nearly three months after he finished his sentence, there is no prospect currently of [el-Fattah] returning to his son here in the UK. There is a very real risk that he won’t see his mother again.'

Soueif is resuming her weekday visits to Downing Street between 10-11am, to press Keir Starmer and his government to urgently secure the release of her son.

— Maxine Betteridge-Moes

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