I’ll starve myself till I collapse to safe my son’s launch from jail, vows grandmother | EUROtoday

In the Christmas chilly exterior the Foreign Office, 68-year-old grandmother Laila Soueif is ravenous herself.

White strains are being chalked onto the pavement in entrance of her, one for every day she has been on starvation strike. After the eightieth line, the phrases “Free Alaa” comply with.

The strike is meant to place stress on the British authorities to safe the discharge of her son, pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, who’s in jail within the Egyptian capital of Cairo. He holds British citizenship – his 13-year-old son, Khaled, lives in Brighton – however consecutive British governments have didn’t demand his launch significantly.

Living solely off sugarless inexperienced tea and rehydration salts, that is Ms Soueif’s most excessive name for assist. She has already misplaced almost 25kg.

“Either my son comes out of prison or I collapse,” Ms Soueif says, sporting a coat now a number of sizes too huge for her. “Once I am unconscious, it is not my business what happens.”

Mr Fattah has spent greater than 10 years in jail over two stints, denied by the Egyptian authorities entry to the British consulate, regardless of this being his proper as a citizen. The second five-year sentence, for posting on Facebook concerning the loss of life of an activist in police custody, expired on 29 September. But the date got here and went.

Neither the Egyptian nor the British authorities acknowledged this finish. Cairo had beforehand mentioned the 2 years Mr Fattah has spent in pretrial detention doesn’t depend in direction of his five-year sentence.

Nevertheless, the United Nations has described his sentences as unjust. David Lammy, the British overseas secretary, dismissed the imprisonment whereas in opposition as illegitimate and referred to as for the Conservative authorities to do extra to safe Mr Fattah’s launch.

But his household say Mr Lammy has been much less useful since assuming workplace. A number of months after Labour’s election victory, Mr Fattah’s sister, Sanaa Seif accused the brand new overseas secretary of “ignoring” them. In a gathering swiftly organised a number of hours later by Mr Lammy’s workforce, the overseas secretary spoke of needing first to construct a relationship with the Egyptians.

What Mr Lammy didn’t inform them, on the time, was that he had spent most of his assembly together with his Egyptian counterpart a number of days earlier speaking about future commerce conferences. The household mentioned they solely discovered this out as a result of the Egyptian authorities posted concerning the assembly on Facebook.

Now, the household mentioned they now not recognise within the minister the person who as soon as championed Mr Fattah’s freedom.

Sir Keir Starmer, in the meantime, failed even to say Mr Fattah’s title when he met with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in November.

The unfairness of Mr Fattah’s extended detention has prompted a swelling of help for his launch from the backbenches, with greater than 100 MPs and friends not too long ago writing to Mr Lammy to specific their alarm about Mr Fattah’s imprisonment.

Celebrity endorsements have additionally poured in, together with Naomi Klein, Christopher Eccleston, Joseph Fiennes and Bill Nighy. After Sir Keir mentioned he would possibly watch Love Actually over the Christmas break, Mr Fattah’s household noticed that as a possibility to recruit as most of the movie’s actors as attainable. They hope extra will communicate out.

But Ms Soueif is evident that, finally, solely the British and Egyptian governments can safe her son’s launch.

And with hopes a brand new Labour authorities might show the turning level being dashed, Ms Soueif’s drastic motion speaks to the household’s worries now that Mr Fattah might by no means be launched.

The household matriarch – and a passionate democracy activist in her personal proper – has already begun withdrawing into herself, say those that have hung out together with her through the strike. She flits between eloquence and slurring her phrases. She is resilient but resigned.

The repercussions of a greater than eighty-day starvation strike are profound, says Richard Ratcliffe, who didn’t eat for 21 days to convey consideration to the imprisonment in Iran of his spouse, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. He additionally camped exterior the Foreign Office. On Monday, he went to see Ms Souief.

“When we were planning my strike, we thought anything longer than 25 days would lead to inevitable permanent damage,” he says. “At 80 days, there’s no doubt.”

Mr Ratcliffe mentioned it took him months to return to a gentle emotional and bodily state after he ended his strike, principally as a result of he mentioned his daughter had already been robbed of 1 dad or mum. Ms Zaghari-Ratliffe was ultimately launched in 2022, almost six years after she was unjustly imprisoned.

Mr Ratcliffe says it’s “sobering” to see that, even after a number of critiques into how the Foreign Office handles instances of arbitrary detention since his personal drastic makes an attempt to free his spouse, one other particular person feels they need to strike exterior the ministry to assist safe the discharge of a member of the family.

The Foreign Office is monitoring Ms Soueif’s well being. Every morning, a civil servant retrieves a doc from the household detailing the grandmother’s vitals.

But she says there are few indicators that the British authorities is making progress in combating for Mr Fattah’s launch.

For Ms Souief, holding an indication that reads “All I want for Christmas is a Free Alaa”, her needs are remarkably meagre given the extremity of her motion.

“I hope this translates into a phone call, at least [between Sir Keir and Mr El-Sisi],” she says – one that can see the prime minister lastly name for Mr Fattah’s launch.

A Foreign Office spokesperson mentioned: “Our priority remains securing the release of Mr El-Fattah so he can be reunited with his family. We continue to raise his case at the highest levels of the Egyptian government.

“The foreign secretary has raised Mr El-Fattah’s case with Egyptian foreign minister Abdelatty on multiple occasions, most recently on 20 December, and the minister for development raised it with foreign minister Abdelatty just earlier this month.”