55 Days Into Hunger Strike, Activists Mother Says She Wont Back Down

After a few days without food, the hunger stops.The body, while weak, “learns how to just function.” That is how Laila Soueif, an Egyptian mathematician and professor, describes her hunger strike, which reached 55 days on Saturday.She stopped eating on Sept.

29, when it became clear that her son, Alaa Abd El Fattah, one of Egypt’s best known political prisoners, would not be released after serving a five-year sentence.Egyptian authorities had sent him a written notice that they would not be counting his two years of pretrial detention, an increasingly routine practice in the country.Mr.

Abd El Fattah, 43, is now scheduled for release in 2027, although he and his family fear he may be held indefinitely.His plight is just one example of the crushing campaign against dissent orchestrated by Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, since he came to power in a 2013 military takeover, with tens of thousands of political prisoners now incarcerated, according to rights groups.Ms.Soueif, 68, said she plans to continue her hunger strike — surviving on water, rehydration salts and sugarless tea and coffee — until he is free.“I won’t back down and I will be very visible,” Ms.

Soueif said in an interview in London on Thursday.“When people ask, ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ I say, ‘I’m creating a crisis.’”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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