Laila Soueif, 69, has been on starvation strike in London for greater than 250 days in an effort to safe the discharge of her son, the activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, from jail in Egypt. As diplomatic stress mounts, she is now in a vital situation.
Alaa’s sister Mona Seif describes to Michael Safi the toll that imprisonment has taken on her brother, her mom’s willpower to do no matter she will be able to to safe his launch, and the issue of coming to phrases along with her mom’s choice to threat her life.
The Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, describes assembly Soueif and says she and her British-Egyptian household have an extended historical past of activism. This features a reported previous incident between her husband, Ahmed Seif, and the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, that many imagine could also be influencing Alaa’s probably indefinite detention.
The 2 focus on the makes an attempt made by completely different British governments to safe her son’s launch, the Overseas Workplace’s strategic issues, and doable diplomatic choices.
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