‘I will keep up Downing Street hunger strike until my son is free or I collapse’
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Laila Soueif has dedicated her life to standing up for human rights in her home of Egypt, but currently she is living through an ordeal like no other. It is now 107 days since her son, the activist and blogger Alaa Abn El-Fattah, should have been freed from a Cairo prison following the end of a five-year sentence.
![[Mandatory Credit: Photo by Tayfun Salci/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock (13995811e) Mother of dual British-Egyptian citizen Alaa Abd el-Fattah LAILA SOUEIF joins Amnesty International protesters outside Foreign Office. Protesters submitted a letter signed by 100 MPs and peers to the UK Foreign Office calling on Foreign Secretary James Cleverly to take action to free Alaa Abd el-Fattah. Free Alaa vigil outside FCO as letter signed by 100 MPs and peers submitted to Foreign Office, London, England, United Kingdom - 03 Jul 2023]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_235861307-d4cb.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
But Alaa – a British citizen – is still not home with his son in Brighton. As a result, 68-year-old Laila is 107 days into a painful, grinding hunger strike. ‘I get tired more easily, and certain things tire me more than others,’ she told Metro when asked how she is feeling physically. ‘I’m probably more short-tempered and more easily tearful.’.
![[Foreign Secretary David Lammy (left) and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during the ceremonial welcome for the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and his wife Sheikha Jawaher at Horse Guards Parade, London during the state visit to the UK of the Emir of Qatar and the first of his three wives. Picture date: Tuesday December 3, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story ROYAL Qatar. Photo credit should read: Ben Whitley/PA Wire]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_231797200-0289.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Yesterday, she relocated her protest from the Foreign Office to outside the gates of Downing Street after concluding the only thing that will get her son released is more pressure from the prime minister himself. Laila said: ‘I’ve always been stubborn and I go after what I want, but this is probably the first time that I really had to sustain my stubbornness for so long.
![[FILE PHOTO: Egyptian-British hunger striker Alaa Abd el-Fattah poses for a photo in unknown location, in this undated handout image obtained by Reuters on November 8, 2022. Courtesy of Omar Robert Hamilton/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT/File Photo]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SEI_223313411-6e70.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
‘And the stakes have been so high, because the aim is really for my son to get back alive. ‘In a way, it’s like the easiest decision I’ve ever had to make – or once I made it, it’s the easiest decision I’ve ever had to sustain, because it’s natural for a mother to be willing to do absolutely anything for her son.’.
