Activist Ahmed Douma, researcher Ahmed Samir Santawy, lawyer Ziyad Elaleimy call off hunger strike

Imprisoned political activist Ahmed Douma has brought to an end a hunger strike that he began in the final weeks of March, according to his brother, Mohamed Douma. He undertook the strike to protest abuse committed by prison authorities in his place of detention.

Mohamed Douma told Mada Masr that he was informed of the news by family members of one of Douma’s cellmates at Tora Prison Complex, who paid a visit to their relative in prison last week.

Over recent weeks, family members of multiple detainees within Tora have reported that their loved ones had faced mistreatment and assault by prison staff while at least five prisoners have engaged in hunger strikes to protest their treatment and the treatment of fellow detainees. 

Douma began his hunger strike on March 26 after he was subjected to mistreatment and physical assault by a particular prison staff member, according to Mohamed Douma. The same official, Ahmed al-Wakil, has been accused of assault by multiple detainees at the complex’s Tora Farm Prison.

Other detainees who also went on strike at a later date included researcher Ahmed Samir Santawy — who Mohamed Douma said was physically assaulted by the same prison official — former MP and lawyer Zyad Elaleimy, and journalist Hisham Fouad. 

Activist and blogger Alaa Abd El Fattah, who is serving a five-year sentence at Tora on false news charges, began a hunger strike in April to protest his innocence, his sister Mona Seif told Mada Masr.

Douma’s defense lawyer Khaled Ali said he filed a petition to the public prosecutor in order to document Douma’s hunger strike as a response to repeated instances of assault by prison guards and to request monitoring and provision of medical assistance for the duration of the strike.

Mohamed Douma said he was informed last week that prison authorities appeared to have been responsive to his brother’s protest action and that Douma, Santawy and Eleimy had ended their strikes. Fouad’s wife, meanwhile, told Mada Masr that she had not received any information about whether or not her husband was still on strike.

Neither Douma's family nor his lawyers have been able to visit him since the beginning of March, his brother said.

They learned in late March that he was on hunger strike via a letter that Douma managed to smuggle out of prison, his brother said, and later learned that he had ended the strike from the family of his cellmate, former Strong Egypt Party head Abdel Moneim Abouel Fotouh, after they visited the prison.

According to a statement by his family, the former presidential candidate was physically assaulted by Wakil on March 23 and suffered an episode of angina as a result of the assault. Abouel Fotouh, 71, has had multiple heart attacks and faced other chronic health issues during his imprisonment since 2018.

Ali also represents Abouel Fotouh, and has filed a petition requesting an investigation into repeated instances of physical assault on his client and the threat such abuse poses to his health, as well as a request that his testimony as a plaintiff be heard. 

As for Abd El Fattah, who is also represented by Ali, a petition has been submitted to the prosecution requesting that Abd El Fattah be provided with medical care, monitoring and documentation of his health condition via regular medical reports to be presented to the Public Prosecution for the duration of his strike, his sister told Mada Masr.