A mother declared at risk of sudden death due to her 150-day hunger strike to free her jailed son has been persuaded to end her fast if UK ministers show any sign of progress in efforts to seek his release.
Laila Soueif, 68, is seeking the release of her son, the British-Egyptian prize-winning writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah, from a jail in Cairo. She has attempted to protest outside Downing Street for an hour each weekday to keep her son’s cause in the minds of ministers.
Soueif was taken to hospital on Monday after her hunger strike led to a dangerous fall in her blood sugar levels. Her doctor said there was an “immediate risk to life including further deterioration or death” and that she was “in particular at high risk of sudden death with continued fasting”.
She is under observation at St Thomas’ hospital in central London.
Fattah, who has been jailed repeatedly by the regime of the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, completed his current five-year sentence last September, if his two years in detention before sentencing are taken into account as is specified by Egyptian law.
It appears that Keir Starmer has been unable to secure a phone call with Sisi to discuss Fattah’s fate, despite making requests to do so.
Starmer has twice written to Sisi, and the UK’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva raised Fattah’s unlawful detention at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Egypt is refusing to provide even British consular access to Fattah as it does not recognise dual national status.
A family member said: “It seems extraordinary that the whole of the British government machine is unable to secure a call. Laila has always said her fast is about securing some sign of progress in the release of her son, but so far she has nothing and feels she cannot stop her hunger strike.”
Soueif was admitted to hospital when blood sugar levels dropped to 2.0 mmol/L and she recorded a low blood pressure reading of 75/45. Her blood sugar levels have previously recovered but are no longer doing so, prompting the deep levels of concern.
She is not taking glucose treatment because of her hunger strike but due to low sodium readings of 131 mmol/L she has been put on a saline drip.
Starmer met the family a fortnight ago but Downing Street has disclosed little about what he is willing to do to secure Fattah’s release.
The Foreign Office has been looking at what incentives it could provide to the financially strapped Egyptian government to convince it that it would be in Egypt’s economic interests to show clemency.
In November 2022, David Lammy, then the shadow foreign secretary, described a £4bn trade partnership with Egypt as “tremendous leverage”.
In March last year, the World Bank announced it was providing $6bn to Egypt over three years, and it is likely the UK will be involved in providing some financial support.
The family are also frustrated that there is no cross-government policy to make contracts with the Egyptian government contingent on progress with Fattah’s release.
