Family of jailed activists Alaa and Sanaa start full hunger strike
Ahram Online, Monday 27 Oct 2014
Activists Laila Soueif and Mona Seif will refuse food and fluids after jailing of son/brother Alaa Abdel-Fattah and sentencing of daughter/sister Sanaa Seif


The mother and sister of jailed activists and siblings Alaa Abdel-Fattah and Sanaa Seif decided on Monday to abstain from drinking water, escalating their hunger strike to protest jail and sentences for Alaa and Sanaa.

Laila Soueif, mother of Alaa and Sanaa, said in a statement on her Facebook page, that a Monday verdict to re-imprison her son Alaa pending a retrial, in addition to an "unjust" verdict Sunday of three years in prison for daughter Sanaa prompted her to take this action.


Mona Seif, the only sibling who is not currently in prison, said on her Facebook page that she and her mother have officially documented their full hunger strike at the general prosecution office.

Soueif and Seif were on hunger strike since 4 September, but were drinking water.

Sanaa has been on hunger strike since 28 August.

Sanaa and 22 others were sentenced on Monday for organising a demonstration last June against the protest law. They can appeal the sentence.

Alaa was out on bail in his retrial for violating the protest law last November. His case was postponed to 11 November.

The law is currently being challenged in a Supreme Constitutional Court case.

Dozens of prisoners in several Egyptian jails have been on partial hunger strike against the protest law for weeks, according to El-Horeya Lil-Gidaan, a rights activist group.



The ministry of interior maintains that only one prisoner, Mohamed Soltan, is on hunger strike behind bars.

Abdel-Fattah and Mona Seif are among prominent activists who played a key role during the 2011 revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

Alaa was jailed during the Mubarak-era and consecutively under every ruler since for a variety of charges relating to his activist efforts.

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