Egyptian prison authorities have intervened medically with imprisoned pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah, who this week escalated his hunger strike and stopped drinking water, his family said Thursday, demanding his release. The drama surrounding his fate is coinciding with Egypt’s hosting of the U.N. climate summit.
With the family scrambling for details on Abdel-Fattah's condition, officials at the prison refused to allow a lawyer for the family to visit him, despite approval by the prosecutors' office for the visit. The lawyer, Khaled Ali, said Interior Ministry officials told him the approval was not valid because it was dated Wednesday, adding in a tweet that he was only notified of the approval on Thursday morning.
