Alaa Abdel Fattah Begins a Hunger Strike


Alaa Abdel Fattah, an Egyptian activist who is in prison and awaiting retrial on charges of rioting, destruction of public property and attacking security forces, started a hunger strike. He reached this decision after he and his younger sister, Sanaa Seif, who is also on trial for unauthorized demonstrations, visited their father in the hospital and found him unconscious after having suffered a cardiac arrest. Their father, Ahmed Seif El-Islam, is a prominent human rights lawyer. Abdel Fattah released a statement announcing his hunger strike saying, “I will not play the role they have drawn for me.”