Overview

• Laila Soueif, a British-Egyptian mathematician, has been on hunger strike for 60 days to pressure authorities into releasing her son, Alaa Abd el-Fattah, a prominent democracy activist and writer.
• Alaa Abd el-Fattah, sentenced to five years for 'spreading false news,' completed his term in September but remains detained, with Egyptian authorities refusing to count his pretrial detention time.
• Soueif plans to meet UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who previously advocated for her son’s release, to urge stronger diplomatic action and leverage the UK’s £4 billion trade relationship with Egypt.
• The UK government has faced criticism for its limited progress in securing Abd el-Fattah’s release, despite his British citizenship and Soueif’s repeated appeals for consular intervention.
• Soueif’s health is deteriorating rapidly, with significant weight loss and mounting concerns about her survival, as she vows to continue her strike to create a crisis that compels action.