CAIRO (Reuters) – The sister of Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah said on Monday the family had received a letter from prison that served as “proof of life” from the hunger striker.
“Alaa is alive, he says he’s drinking water again as of November 12th,” Sanaa Seif said on Twitter. “It’s definitely his handwriting. Proof of life, at last.”
Abd el-Fattah, who has been on hunger strike against his detention and prison conditions for more than 220 days, had said he was escalating his protest by ceasing to drink water on Nov. 6, the opening day of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt.
Since then his family and his lawyer had made repeated trips to the prison where he is detained northwest of Cairo, but had received no news on his condition.
Abd el-Fattah’s strike has overshadowed the United Nations climate talks in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where several leaders have raised the case with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
Egypt’s public prosecutor said on Thursday Abd el-Fattah was in good health, after the family said they were informed that medical intervention had been carried out to maintain his health.
British foreign minister James Cleverly said on Monday the government would keep working to secure consular access to Abd el-Fattah.
(Reporting by Nafisa Eltahir and Moataz Mohamed, writing by Aidan Lewis, editing by Mark Heinrich and Angus MacSwan)
