Egypt: Detainee Alaa Abdel Fattah is “feeling well” and “drinking again,” according to a letter written to his family.

“Proof of Life, Finally.” Within seven months, the Egyptian-British political prisoner Alaa Abdel Fattah, who went on a hunger strike, wrote to his family that he was feeling well and had started drinking again since Saturday. The pro-democracy blogger ate just 100 calories a day for seven months. On November 6, at the opening of COP27 in Egypt, he decided not to eat or drink at all.

Since then, his family has been demanding proof of his life. His lawyer Khaled Ali traveled to Wadi Natrun prison, 100 kilometers northwest of Cairo, three times to see him. Twice left empty-handed, he returned to exercise on Monday morning.

“under medical supervision”

There, Leila Sueif, the mother of Alaa Abdel Fattah, who accompanied him, received a letter “dated November 12, in which he says that everything is fine with him, that he is under medical supervision and that he has started working again. drink” on Saturday. Me Ali wrote on Facebook. His sister Sanaa Seif, who campaigned tirelessly for Egypt’s 60,000 political prisoners according to NGOs, and in particular his brother at COP27, immediately exclaimed, “Alaa is alive.”

“This is clearly his handwriting, this is proof of life, why did they (the letter) keep for two days without giving it to us? “Alaa says she will reveal more when she can. Alaa Abdel Fattah, an icon of the Arab Spring and a pet peeve of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, is now at the center of the debate in Egypt, the country ranked 135th out of 140 states in the global rule of law ranking compiled by the World Justice Project.

“Violations of the Code of Conduct”, according to the UN

First, the regime decided to take revenge: Sissi supporters brought Sana Seif to justice during her two press conferences at COP27. The MP and the establishment spokesman called his brother a “criminal”. In connection with these and other incidents, the UN, which is responsible for the security of the summit, announced on Monday that it was investigating “violations of the Code of Conduct” by the Egyptian police, in particular because the German delegation that hosted the Sana-Saif in its pavilion said that ” watched.”

Since the start of my COP27 summit in Sharm el-Sheikh on November 6, many activists have complained about “interrogations”, “harassment” and draconian conditions for organizing demonstrations.

On the German TV channel ZDF, Liane Chalatek, head of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, explained that “when we reserve a space for civil society discussion meetings, the technical support cameras are always aimed at the faces of the participants.” “This is unusual and unnecessary, and it cannot be ruled out that everything is recorded. »