Laila Soueif Hospitalized After 247-Day Hunger Strike for Jailed Son

Laila Soueif, a 69-year-old British-Egyptian grandmother and pro-democracy activist, has been on a hunger strike for nearly 250 days to protest the continued imprisonment of her son, Alaa Abd el-Fattah, a jailed activist in Egypt. Soueif has lost over 40% of her body weight and is hospitalized at St Thomas's Hospital in London, where doctors warn she faces an immediate risk of sudden death due to extremely low blood sugar levels. Her son, who holds a British passport, has been detained for over a decade on charges related to his political activism, with a U.N. panel deeming his imprisonment illegal. Despite British diplomatic ties with Egypt, Soueif's family accuses the UK government of failing to secure his release and urges urgent action from Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Soueif has stated she is willing to die if it means her son's freedom and has pleaded for her death not to be in vain. Her daughter continues to update the Foreign Office but fears delays could be fatal, emphasizing the urgent need for intervention.