British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has told a mother who has been on hunger strike for 140 days that he will press the Egyptian government to release her son.

Laila Soueif is a mathematician, a university professor, a political activist.

The mother of a prominent Egyptian rights activist has said that she has started a hunger strike to pressure authorities to release her son Alaa Abdel-Fattah, who rose to prominence with the 2011 pro-democracy uprisings that swept the Middle East and in Egypt toppled long-time President Hosni Mubarak.

The family of Egypt’s imprisoned hunger-striking activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah says he has started drinking water again.

Family members say Egyptian prison authorities have intervened medically with imprisoned pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah, who this week escalated his hunger strike to refuse water.