The Guardian View on Egypt’s Abuses: Justice Needed for Alaa Abd el-Fattah – and the Others

THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: The treatment of the British-Egyptian democracy activist is a travesty, and emblematic of the regime’s brutality

Sanaa Seif, the sister of Alaa Abd el-Fattah, at a protest in London last month. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
Only the Egyptian regime knows the fate of Alaa Abd el-Fattah. It wants to keep it that way. The jailed British-Egyptian writer and democracy activist, a figurehead of the 2011 revolution, began refusing water on Sunday – six months after launching a hunger strike that has seen him consume no more than 100 calories a day. On Monday, his mother waited in vain outside the prison for his weekly letter. As of Tuesday evening, his family was still demanding proof of life, fearing he may die before the end of the Cop27 climate summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, which has finally propelled his case to international attention. They are also concerned that he may be tortured through force-feeding. » | Editorial | Tuesday, November 8, 2022

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Alaa Abdel Fattah: British-Egyptian Activist's Life at Acute Risk - UN

The UN said Alaa Abdel Fattah was one of a number of Egyptians "arbitrarily deprived of their liberty". | ANADOLU AGENCY
BBC: The United Nations human rights chief has called on Egypt to immediately release jailed British-Egyptian pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel Fattah.

Volker Türk said his life was "at acute risk" after he escalated a hunger strike and stopped drinking water.

He began the strike in April to protest against the denial of consular visits.

His sister, Sanaa Seif, said: "All we know is that Alaa stopped drinking water 50 hours ago. We don't know where he is. We don't know if he is alive."

"My mother waited outside the prison gates for 10 hours yesterday for her weekly letter. They didn't give her one. She is back at those gates right now," she told a news conference at the COP27 climate conference in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

"I asked the British authorities to get us some proof that Alaa is alive and conscious. I did not get any response." » | David Gritten, BBC News | Tuesday, November 8, 2022

Iran Lawyer Defiant as Hunger Strike Takes Toll
THE AUSTRALIAN: Nasrin Sotoudeh has spent 105 days in solitary confinement and is so weak from her hunger strike that she can barely finish sentences.

The leading Iranian human rights lawyer has nonetheless issued a declaration of defiance from her prison cell.

"If you are going to hell, then go like a man," she told The Times in a message sent from Tehran's infamous Evin prison via her husband, Reza Khandan. "Let them give me a harsh sentence because that brings a person honour."

Mr Khandan, who risked reprisals for speaking to a foreign journalist, said that he was proud of his wife and supported her stand, whatever the price.

"I very much fear for her life, but I don't know what I can do to save her," he said.

Ms Sotoudeh, 47, the mother of two young children, is becoming the latest symbol of the regime's barbarity. >>> Martin Fletcher | The Times | Saturday, December 18, 2010

Russlands bekanntester Häftling tritt in Hungerstreik: Chodorkowski will auf Justizwillkür aufmerksam machen
NZZ ONLINE: Der inhaftierte Kremlkritiker und frühere Ölmanager Michail Chodorkowski ist aus Protest gegen Justizwillkür in Russland in einen unbefristeten Hungerstreik getreten. Der bekannteste Häftling des Landes will damit die Aufmerksamkeit von Kremlchef Dmitri Medwedew auf die andauernden Gesetzesverstösse lenken. Das berichteten russische Medien.

Der 46-jährige Chef des inzwischen zerschlagenen Ölkonzerns Yukos, der seit 2003 wegen Steuerbetrugs in Haft sitzt, muss sich derzeit in einem zweiten Verfahren wegen Geldwäsche verantworten. Menschenrechtler zeigten sich besorgt wegen des Gesundheitszustands von Chodorkowski. >>> sda/dpa | Dienstag, 18. Mai 2010


RUSSIA TODAY: Khodorkovsky on hunger strike over court ruling: Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head and key shareholder of Russian oil company Yukos went on an indefinite hunger strike on Tuesday to protest the court’s decision to leave him in custody. >>> | Tuesday, May 18, 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Jailed Russian oligarch goes on hunger strike: The imprisoned Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has gone on a hunger strike to draw attention to what he claims are improper court rulings against suspects charged with economic crimes. >>> | Tuesday, May 18, 2010

US Journalist Held in Iran 'Very Weak'
THE TELEGRAPH: The father of an Iranian-American journalist jailed by Iran on charges of spying for the United States said yesterday that she was in a bad condition a week after going on hunger strike.

Reza Saberi said he and his wife, Akiko, visited their daughter Roxana in Tehran's Evin jail on Sunday, taking flowers for her 32nd birthday.

"She is very, very weak and frail ... she is in a bad condition. She can hardly stand up," he said. "I'm worried about her health. I'm worried about her life."

The 68-year-old said he had asked his daughter to stop her action, but she did not want to discuss it during the 20-minute visit. She started refusing food last Tuesday, he said.

The US-born freelance reporter was sentenced to eight years in jail on April 18, in a verdict that could complicate Washington's efforts towards reconciliation with Iran after three decades of mutual mistrust.

Her defence lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, who has appealed the sentence, said he expected the case to be sent to a higher court this week and suggested it may be examined soon.

He has expressed hope she would be acquitted after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the prosecutor to ensure Saberi enjoys full legal rights to defend herself. The judiciary chief has said the appeal must be dealt with in a "quick and fair way". >>> | Monday, April 27, 2009

US Reporter 'Fragile' after Start of Hunger Strike in Tehran Jail
THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: Father of journalist sentenced for spying says she must be 'very weak' after five days without food

Roxana Saberi has been refusing food since Tuesday, say her parents, who visited her in a Tehran prison on Monday. Photo courtesy of The Independent on Sunday
Roxana Saberi, the US-Iranian reporter jailed a week ago in Tehran on charges of spying that are untested in open court, has gone on hunger strike and is in a fragile state, according to her family and associates. Her father, Reza Saberi, said yesterday: "She went on a hunger strike on Tuesday to protest her imprisonment." He said she will continue "until she is freed", but added: "I am pretty certain that she must be very weak now."

The journalist, who grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, a city where yellow ribbons on trees now mark her incarceration, is 32 today, a birthday she will spend in Evin prison. She was arrested in January and initially accused – reports differ – of working without press credentials, or buying alcohol. But an Iranian judge later charged her with passing intelligence to the US. She was convicted after a one-day trial behind closed doors, and sentenced to eight years in prison. >>> By David Randall | Sunday, April 26, 2009

Hunger Striking lllegal Immigrants in Belgium in Critical Condition
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Groups of illegal immigrants in Brussels have been staging hunger strikes for months following the rejection of their applications for residency permits. A doctor warns that their condition is now critical.

Rajendra Debkota, 50, an agricultural engineer from Nepal, can barely walk after 78 days of fasting. He's clearly in pain. When asked if he will continue his hunger strike, he responds: "I'm alone with my body. I can't think about what I'll do today or tomorrow."

Debkota and seven other people on hunger strikes are being cared for at the Latin America House in Brussels. They come from Nepal, the Ivory Coast, Congo, Guinea, Brazil and Iran. The hunger strikes are being conducted by illegal immigrants or asylum seekers whose applications for residency permits to stay in Belgium are pending or have been rejected. In recent years, hunger strikes and other protests have become a common way for illegal immigrants to try to stay in the country. Hunger Striking lllegal Immigrants in Belgium in Critical Condition >>> By Petra de Koning in Brussels | September 23, 2008

MAIL Online:
Spain Will Pay Jobless Migrants to return Home >>> | September 22, 2008

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Saudi Arabia: Activist on Hunger Strike
LOS ANGELES TIMES: More than 30 human rights groups across the Middle East have condemned Saudi Arabia for imprisoning a leading political activist who has reportedly been on a hunger strike since mid-May. The organizations have appealed to King Abdullah for the release of Matrouk Faleh, a university professor who has pushed for democratic reform in the ultraconservative Islamic state.

Faleh was arrested on May 19 after posting complaints on a website about living conditions in the Breidah Prison, where two other leading dissidents, Abdullah Hamid and his brother, Issa, are serving sentences.

The Saudi government “decided to punish Dr. Matrouk for his public criticism of the conditions of detention and to subject him to even more arbitrary measures by confiscating his personal laptop and mobile phone upon his arrest, and, moreover, by inflicting further pressures and psychological torment,” according to a statement signed by human rights groups in Egypt, Tunisia, Sudan and other countries.

The statement continued that Faleh’s wife reported that “prison officials deliberately woke him after midnight claiming that he would be subject to interrogation, tied his hands and feet and tried to force him to eat after he had announced a food strike in protest against . . .his being detained without any notification of the charges against him.”

A political science professor at King Saud University in Riyadh, Faleh, a diabetic, has spent much time in Saudi courts and jails. He was granted a royal pardon in 2005 after being sentenced for up to nine years for demanding constitutional reforms and political freedoms. The Saudi government has not commented on his most recent case. [Source: Saudi Arabia: Activist on Hunger Strike] Jeffrey Fleischman in Cairo | June 12, 2008

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