As Laila Soueif’s health declines amid hunger strike for Alaa’s freedom, Mona Seif pleas for Soueif to take medical advice

Mona Seif, sister of detained activist and writer Alaa Abd El Fattah, issued a plea on Friday in which she expressed fear for the life of her mother, Laila Soueif, following months of a hunger strike in which she has pressured authorities for the release of Abd El Fattah.

Soueif visited a London hospital on Thursday amid what her daughters describe as a severe deterioration in her condition.

Seif published a live-stream on social media on Friday in which she said that her mother is convinced that "there’s no way to get Alaa out except by dying."

Doctors have warned that the prolonged hunger strike — now in its eleventh month — could cause permanent damage that may extend to vital organs.

Saying that the family has chosen not to share the “terrifying and exhausting details” of the decline in Soueif’s health condition, Seif called on those close to her mother to intervene and help convince her to end the strike to save her life and prevent the family from enduring yet another loss.

“This video isn’t a plea to the state, or to the people. This is a plea to my mother, and to anyone who holds her dear,” Seif said. “Please, pressure her — do anything. Mom must end this hunger strike because it’s destroying her, and it’s destroying us.” 

“This is the last thing I can do,” said Seif. “She’s slipping away. My sister, my brother, myself — we can’t bear the situation we are in.”

Soueif has remained adamant that she will continue her strike, calling for authorities in both Egypt and the United Kingdom to intervene to release Abd El Fattah.

Abd El Fattah has been imprisoned since 2019, although he was convicted on false news charges and ordered to serve no longer than five years.

Yet authorities refuse to count the two years he spent in remand detention toward his sentence. Amnesty International has cautioned that officials may find grounds to extend his detention beyond 2027, while a group of United Nations experts has concluded that the writer is now being held arbitrarily.

Seif’s video prompted pleas from family friends and public figures, including Mohamed al-Baqer, Abd El Fattah’s former lawyer, who called on Soueif to end the strike, not because her efforts were a mistake, but out of fear of losing her. “The truth is, we’re terrified,” he said. “Terrified that we’ll wake up one day and she won’t be among us.”

Following a hospital admission in June, Soueif marginally increased her caloric intake after repeated appeals from those close to her and Abd El Fattah’s current lawyer, Khaled Ali.

Sanaa Seif, daughter to Laila and sibling to Mona and Alaa, published an account of her mother’s condition on Saturday evening, describing symptoms of persistent insomnia and impairments to her cognitive function. Doctors administered salts to her mother during the Thursday hospital visit, she wrote, but noted that her mother had refused medics advice to end her hunger strike and stay in hospital.