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Egypt’s most famous political prisoner, Alaa Abdel-Fattah goes on hunger strike in detention

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Egypt’s most famous political prisoner, Alaa Abdel-Fattah, who is also a central figure of the 2011 “revolution” has been on hunger strike since Saturday to protest his detention.

Abdel-Fattah’s mother, Laila Soueif made the revelation on Monday while speaking with newsmen. “He refuses to eat because his prison situation must change, he is placed under heavy surveillance, in solitary confinement, he is not allowed books, physical exercise and this prison is known for not respecting any law,” she explained.

In December 2021, a court sentenced Alaa Abdel Fattah to five years in jail with two others receiving four years. Abdel Fattah, his lawyer Mohamed al-Baqer and the blogger Mohamed “Oxygen” Ibrahim were convicted of “broadcasting false news” in their trial in Cairo.

His sister Mona Seif took to Twitter to say that when she visited Abdel Fattah in prison on Monday, where he refused to take the food she had brought him.

Mr. Abdel Fattah has been imprisoned under every president in Egypt in the last decade. His last arrest was in September 2019 after rare protests against current President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, who has gradually muzzled the population since coming to power in 2013.

According to Amnesty International, Egypt has 60,000 prisoners of conscience, including “peaceful activists, human rights defenders, lawyers, academics and journalists detained solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association.”

Politics

Coup: Regional bloc, ECOWAS might intervene in Sierra Leone ‘if need be’

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Amidst a wave of military coups in the West African sub-region, a delegation of the ECOWAS Commission has hinted at likely bloc intervention in Sierra Leone following a failed coup over the weekend.

A chief of the commission and officials of the Nigerian government were received by Sierra Leone’s President, Julius Maada Bio, after Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the head of the 15-member sub-regional bloc, sent a message to Bio through Omar Alieu Touray, the head of the Ecowas Commission.

Gunmen last week exchanged fire for several hours with security forces in what the government attributed to “renegade soldiers.” Meanwhile, the police promised a “reward” to anyone providing information leading to the capture of 34 suspected fugitives.

“ECOWAS is ready and committed to supporting the people of Sierra Leone, including to strengthen their national security and the deployment, if need be, of regional elements,” Touray said.

The visit by the envoys appears to be a show of support for the government of Sierra Leone in the wake of the fatal attack that rocked the country’s capital, Freetown, on Sunday.

ECOWAS commended Bio’s and his government’s leadership in putting an end to what he described as a “very unfortunate incident.”

Concern has been raised by the wave of coups that have swept through Africa in the last three years, particularly in the West African bloc. The bloc has seen military takeovers of democratically elected governments in 2023 in Niger and Gabon, where troops removed Mohamed Bazzoum and Ali Bongo, respectively.

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Another Tunisian opposition leader, Moussi begins hunger strike in prison

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Another Tunisian opposition leader, Abir Moussi has begun a hunger strike in prison to protest what her lawyers described as a violation of her rights to freedom and political activity.

Moussi, who is a prominent opponent of Tunisian President, Kais Saied, was last month sentenced after police arrested her at the presidential palace entrance on suspicion of assault intended to cause chaos, viewed as part of a crackdown on opposition politicians by some watchers.

In a statement, her party, the Free Constitutional Party (PDL), cautioned against “attempts to fabricate legal obstacles to remove her from participating in the presidential elections” that are anticipated to take place the following year.

In a statement, her attorneys said that Moussi would go on a 16-day hunger strike to draw attention to the issue of violence against women in Tunisia. She is an advocate of the late president Zine El Abidine ben Ali, whose overthrow in 2011 was brought about by widespread demonstrations; an uprising subsequently extended throughout the Middle East, dubbed “the Arab Spring”.

In a similar move in September, embattled Tunisian opposition leader, Rached Ghannouchi, who has been a political prisoner since April, also threatened to begin a hunger strike in captivity.

Moussi faces charges of plotting against state security alongside other opposition figures who are in jail. She had accused Saied of staging a coup in order to close the elected parliament and impose rule by decree.

President Saied has been accused of suppressing dissenting voices in the nation since taking office. This year, the police has detained over 20 political figures, including Ghannouchi, on suspicion of trying to compromise national security.

More than 20 prominent politicians have been detained by police this year; some are a accused of being involved in plots against state security. “Terrorists, traitors, and criminals” is how Saied has characterised the people under arrest.

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