Laila Soueif, a 68-year-old math professor, has been on a hunger strike for over three weeks, driven by the urgent need to advocate for her son, Alaa Abdel Fattah, a British-Egyptian political prisoner whose five-year prison term should have ended recently. During our conversation, she matter-of-factly stated, “I’m not feeling bad at all,” despite not having eaten in weeks.

Alaa, recognized as Egypt’s most prominent political prisoner, is a blogger and pro-democracy activist who has spent most of the last decade behind bars. His family—and multiple human rights organizations—argue that he should never have been incarcerated in the first place. Laila’s commitment to her hunger strike, sustained only by water, rehydration salts, and unsweetened tea or coffee, reflects her family’s growing despair. “I will continue this until Alaa is free or I’m taken to the hospital,” she declared resolutely. “His life has been on hold for 11 years. It can’t go on.”

Alaa was arrested in September 2019, just six months after serving a previous five-year sentence. In 2021, he was convicted of spreading false news after sharing a Facebook post about torture in Egypt; however, Egyptian authorities have refused to acknowledge his two-plus years in pre-trial detention as part of his sentence.

Despite acquiring British citizenship in 2021, Alaa has never been granted consular access while in custody, a situation which has deeply frustrated his family. Reflecting on this, Laila expressed her disillusionment with the British government’s stance, highlighting past statements made by David Lammy, the then-shadow foreign secretary, who advocated for “serious diplomatic consequences” if Alaa was not allowed access and released.

“I’m not naive. I don’t expect the government to jeopardize billions in trade for my son,” she admitted, though she does hold high expectations for Lammy in his new role as foreign secretary. “At the very least, don’t give them photo opportunities like the one I saw recently of him smiling with the Egyptian foreign secretary.”

In response to the ongoing situation, a spokesperson from the Foreign Office stated, “Our priority remains securing consular access to Mr. El-Fattah and his release. We continue to raise his case at the highest levels of the Egyptian government.”

Their campaign has garnered support from Richard Ratcliffe, who understands the drive behind a hunger strike all too well, having undertaken one himself for the release of his wife, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. “We reached a point where we needed to take drastic action to shake the government from complacency,” he reflected on his own experiences and the family’s efforts. “Alaa’s family will be fully aware that hunger strikes leave scars.”

Alaa’s own hunger strike during the UN climate conference in Egypt last year led to heightened international pressure that improved his prison conditions, allowing him some privileges like reading books and watching sports on television. Nonetheless, Laila describes him as “down most of the time” and pessimistic about his release prospects. His deepest desire is to be with his 13-year-old son, Khalid, who is on the autism spectrum and attends a special needs school in Brighton. She noted that other countries have facilitated the release of their citizens in exchange for renouncing their Egyptian citizenship. “He has no wish to lead the opposition from Brighton,” she clarified. “He’ll be too busy with Khalid.”

Reflecting on her hunger strike, Laila expressed her intention to be a “headache” for both the British and Egyptian governments. “That’s the least of what I hope to achieve,” she concluded.