The Takeaway: Will Biden push Sisi to free Alaa Abdel-Fattah?

Plus, Netanyahu's election will test US foreign policy toward Israel; Saudi Arabia is still detaining US citizens; and State Department officials visit prison camp for ISIS dependents.
Egyptian activist and blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah gives an interview at his home in Cairo on May 17, 2019.
Egyptian activist and blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah gives an interview at his home in Cairo on May 17, 2019. - KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images
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Elizabeth Hagedorn
@ElizHagedorn

When President Joe Biden meets with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, on Friday, Egypt’s most famous political prisoner will be on the 223rd day of a hunger strike to protest his years-long detention. 

The family of 40-year-old British-Egyptian activist and computer programmer Alaa Abdel-Fattah, who stopped drinking water entirely on Sunday, wants Biden to personally resolve his case with Sisi — before it’s too late. 

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