'I've lost a third of my body weight and not eaten in months to save my son'

Laila Soueif, parent of imprisoned British-Egyptian national Alaa Abd el-Fattah, has criticised Keir Starmer for not gathering her and said she volition not extremity her hunger onslaught until Alaa is free

A distraught mum says she has mislaid a 3rd of her assemblage value successful a hopeless effort to get her lad freed.

Laila Soueif, parent of wrongly imprisoned British-Egyptian national Alaa Abd el-Fattah, has criticised Keir Starmer for not gathering her arsenic her wellness deteriorates. Laila, 68, has been connected hunger onslaught since September and has present mislaid astir four-and-a-half stone.

Pro-democracy activistic Aala, 44, is being held successful Egypt, adjacent though helium has served his afloat condemnation and should person been released past year. He was arrested successful September 2019 and handed a five-year condemnation for "spreading mendacious news" aft posting a Facebook station connected torture successful Egypt's prisons.

Laila has vowed to protestation extracurricular Downing Street each time until she is excessively anemic to bash so, calling connected Mr Starmer to intervene. She said: "I’ve been sitting successful the acold extracurricular his location pleading with him to act. The slightest helium could bash is invitation maine wrong to sermon my son."

Last week she was taken to infirmary wherever doctors voiced their alarm astir her debased humor sweetener level and debased potassium. Laila, who has consumed thing but herbal tea, achromatic java and rehydration salts since September 29, says she volition not devour oregon devour calories until her lad is freed. His family, including his young son, unrecorded successful Brighton.

Laila called connected the PM to talk to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi directly. She said: “I’ve been connected hunger onslaught for implicit 4 months now, and person been visiting Downing Street each time for weeks, and Mr Starmer won’t adjacent conscionable with me. He didn’t adjacent notation my petition to conscionable him successful his caller missive to me."

She continued: “I person urged the Prime Minister to intervene personally due to the fact that I cognize the determination to escaped Alaa is successful the hands of Mr Sisi, and I judge that Mr Starmer is the idiosyncratic who tin transportation him to marque that decision. I cognize Mr Starmer has written to Mr Sisi, but that was astir a period ago, and evidently it has not been enough. I bash not recognize wherefore Mr Starmer is failing to telephone oregon speech straight to Mr Sisi.

“In his missive to me, Mr Starmer said helium believed advancement is imaginable but warned, ‘it volition instrumentality time’. How overmuch clip bash they want? It has been 4 months since Alaa finished his condemnation and I started my hunger strike. Any time present my assemblage mightiness collapse. It is already a occurrence that we person had this overmuch time.”

Mr Starmer wrote to the Egyptian President connected December 26 and January 8, portion National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, discussed Alaa with Egyptian authorities successful Cairo connected January 2.

On January 29 a radical of 50 MPs and peers wrote to the PM, saying: "We are convinced that a nonstop speech betwixt you and President Sisi connected Alaa’s case, successful idiosyncratic oregon by telephone, is indispensable to execute each our shared extremity of Alaa being safely returned to his household successful Brighton and an extremity to Laila Soueif's hunger strike."

Foreign Secretary David Lammy described securing Alaa’s merchandise astatine the "number 1 issue" for the Government connected January 14 aft gathering Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty successful Cairo.

Australian writer Peter Greste, a person of Alaa who said the activistic saved his beingness aft helium was thrown successful a Cairo jailhouse connected a bogus coercion charge, has besides taken portion successful a 21-day hunger onslaught demanding his release.