Around 50 Egyptian university professors called on President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to release political activist Alaa Abdel Fattah on humanitarian grounds, warning that his mother, the academic Laila Soueif, is at risk of death after 260 days of hunger strike.
In an open letter to the president, the professors expressed solidarity with Soueif, a mathematics professor and veteran human rights advocate, stating: “We act out of compassion and in solidarity with our colleague Laila Mostafa Soueif, who has been on hunger strike since Sept. 30, 2024. Her life is now in danger.”
Soueif began her full hunger strike the day after Abdel Fattah’s five-year prison sentence expired. After 156 days, she switched to a partial strike, consuming only 300 calories daily. She resumed her full strike recently following unmet promises of intervention, leading to a health collapse and hospitalization at St Thomas’ Hospital in London.
The university professors underscored Soueif’s integrity and her academic contributions over 45 years at Cairo University and highlighted her prestigious lineage—daughter of renowned psychologist Mostafa Soueif and English literature scholar Fatima Moussa.
In a Facebook post, Soueif’s daughter, activist Sanaa Seif, said her mother’s blood sugar dropped to 16.2 mg/dL on Sunday night before rising to 23.4 the next morning.
“Laila is surviving by burning ketones from fatty acids instead of glucose. This is not sustainable,” Dr. Aida Seif El-Dawla, a psychiatrist and close friend, explained in a post.
She added: “Every day Laila survives is a gift powered by her will, a chance for authorities to act before it’s too late.”
“Saving Laila’s life depends on a decision from the president. What are we waiting for? Why? What will you gain?”
Alaa Abdel Fattah was sentenced in December 2021 to five years in prison by the Emergency State Security Court for “spreading false news.” His defense argues that his legal sentence ended in September 2024. However, authorities insist his term began when the military governor ratified it in January 2022, excluding his pretrial detention, beginning in September 2019, from the sentence—contrary to Article 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
