68 h. ago Voices: I went on hunger strike to save my wife – why won’t Starmer help Laila Soueif like he helped us?

While Richard was sitting hungry and cold on the London pavement, he had a visit from Keir Starmer, then leader of the opposition. Days later, he called Nazanin – on house arrest in Tehran – and committed to do what he could to help get her home, recall Richard Ratcliffe and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

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3 d. ago Laila Soueif’s survival despite nearly 250 day hunger strike is a ‘miracle’, says family

Laila Soueif, 69, is currently at St Thomas’s Hospital suffering from extremely low blood sugar levels as she protests the imprisonment of her son

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3 d. ago Exclusive: Emily Watson urges Keir Starmer to ‘save’ mother of jailed activist on 245

Emily Watson has appealed to Sir Keir Starmer to intensify efforts to “save” the mother of an imprisoned British-Egyptian activist who has been on hunger strike for more than 245 days.

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3 d. ago Jailed activist’s mother says she is prepared to die on hunger strike as she reaches nearly 250 days

“Don’t let my death be in vain,” the 69-year-old said

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3 d. ago Mum of activist jailed in Egypt 'miraculously' alive on day 247 of hunger strike

Laila Soueif, 69, stopped eating on September 29 last year after her British-Egyptian son, Alaa Abd el Fattah, was due to be released after more than a decade in an Egyptian jail cell

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4 d. ago Must Laila Soueif die from her hunger strike in London before her son Alaa Abd el

Egypt’s lack of respect for the rule of law is alarming and Britain should impose sanctions to ensure his freedomUK should impose sanctions on Egypt over jailed activist, says Helena KennedyLaila Soueif is one of the most determined people I know, and for that reason, she is in grave danger. The grandmother, 69, is lying in a hospital bed in central London, perilously close to death after 245 days on hunger strike. She could still survive, but it will depend on the UK government taking strong action.Soueif stopped eating to try to save her son, the imprisoned British-Egyptian national Alaa Abd el-Fattah, an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience and winner of the 2024 English PEN writer of courage award. He has spent more than a decade in an Egyptian jail cell because of his writings on democracy. Soueif wants more than anything else to reunite him with his own son, 13, who lives in Brighton and has barely been able to spend time with his father.Helena Kennedy KC is a Labour p...

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6 d. ago Mother of jailed British activist at risk of ‘sudden death’ from hunger strike, doctors warn

Laila’s daughter Sanaa said it was a ‘miracle’ her mother survived the night

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7 d. ago Mother of jailed British activist admitted to hospital while on hunger strike

Laila Soueif has been on hunger strike for 242 days in protest against the imprisonment of her son, Alaa Abd El-Fattah.

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2 w. ago Chef in hunger strike for Palestine says 'food used as a weapon is inhumane'

Max La Manna, chef turned activist, went viral for his hunger strike, in which he is calling on social media viewers and UK supermarkets to boycott Israeli produce - now he reflects on his journey

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2 w. ago Starmer urged to ‘deploy every tool’ to free jailed British activist

MPs and peers have pressed for the release of Alaa Abd El-Fattah, who has been on hunger strike for more than 80 days.

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2 w. ago ‘I think of those I left behind in prison’: Iran’s Jafar Panahi on life as a banned film

He’s been jailed, gone on hunger strike and been forced to sell his house for bail. In his first newspaper interview for 15 years, the great director explains why every film is worth the consequencesIn February 2023 Jafar Panahi walked free from Iran’s Evin prison after nearly seven months behind bars. Friends and supporters had gathered to greet him, but the moment of release felt bittersweet and he struggled to adjust back to civilian life afterwards. In the weeks that followed he developed a habit. He’d drive his car back and forth on the road that paralleled the high prison walls, pining for those who were still inside. “These people had become my people,” he says. “I thought, ‘How could I go and leave them behind?’”Panahi makes humane, heartfelt pictures about life in Iran. He refers to these as “social films”, although this definition cuts no ice with the Iranian government, which has ruled them to be “propaganda against the system” and therefore hazardous, offensive material....

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3 w. ago California State students protest aid blockade in Gaza with hunger strike

Two dozen fasting students also press university system to divest from weapon manufacturers in list of demandsAround two dozen California State University students began a hunger strike last week to protest starvation in Gaza due to Israel’s aid blockade, marking the latest act of political protest on college campuses.The strikers – students from San Jose State, Sacramento State, San Francisco State and CSU Long Beach – began their fast on 5 May Continue reading...

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