Laila Soueif, the mother of imprisoned UK-Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, reached the 100th day of her hunger strike on Tuesday, according to her family.
The 68-year-old mathematics professor has been protesting her son’s continued imprisonment in Egypt by refusing food.
“Unfortunately the government seems to be waiting for me to be hospitalised before they act decisively to secure my son’s freedom,” Soueif said in a statement.
Abdel Fattah, a prominent dissident, was expected to be released on September 29 after completing a five-year prison sentence. However, his family discovered that two years of pre-trial detention were not deducted from his sentence, keeping him incarcerated.
Soueif and her daughters have been actively campaigning for Abdel Fattah’s release, holding regular protests outside the UK Foreign Office and urging Foreign Secretary David Lammy to intervene.
Abdel Fattah, a key figure in the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, has faced ongoing persecution by the Egyptian government for his activism.
Despite recent overtures by the Egyptian government to improve its human rights record, including the release of some political prisoners, concerns remain about the ongoing repression of dissent.