COP 27: British-Egyptian activist escalates hunger strike by refusing water

Jailed British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah has stepped up his hunger strike by refusing water, his sister has said.

Abdel Fattah is a key activist in the 2011 Arab Spring. He is currently serving a five-year sentence for allegedly spreading false news. Abdel Fattah has been on a hunger strike for over 200 days now. He has been pushing Egypt to allow him UK consular access. 

The activist gave up water at the start of the COP 27 climate summit as calls for his release escalated. Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International chief said on Sunday that there were less than three days to save Abdel Fattah's life. "If they do not want to end up with a death they should have and could have prevented, they must act now," Callamard told NBC New York. If authorities were to fail to intervene in the next 72 hours "at the most," Callamard said Abdel-Fattah's death "will be holding on to COP27, it will be in every single discussion, every single discussion there will be Alaa there."

The escalation of the hunger strike has prompted concerns for Fattah's life. There had been criticism over holding the COP27 summit given Egypt's human rights record. Activists have been condemning President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's policy of "mass arbitrary detention to crush dissent." 

UK PM Rishi Sunak, in the meantime, wrote to the activist's family saying he would raise the issue with the Egyptian government. Sunak added that Abdel Fattah's case is "a priority for the British government both as a human rights defender and as a British national".