Jailed Egyptian activists on hunger strike to protest pretrial detention
Twelve Egyptian political prisoners who have been in pretrial detention for years are now on hunger strike.
CAIRO — Several jailed opposition activists in Egypt began a mass hunger strike Feb. 11 to protest their pretrial detention. The first three included former member of the secular April 6 Movement Walid Shawky, former media official in the 2018 election campaign of Sami Anan Ahmed Maher and prominent political activist Abdel Rahman Tarek.
They were later joined by several other detained activists, bringing the number of hunger strikers to 12 so far, according to Shawqy's wife Heba Anis.
Shawqy has been in pretrial detention for three and a half years now.
“Walid and the rest of the hunger strikers are at serious risk inside prisons that refuse to recognize their strike, even though this is their legal right,” Anis said in a video posted on Facebook Feb. 22.
