In more news from Egypt, fear over the deteriorating health of British-Egyptian human rights activist and political prisoner Alaa Abd El-Fattah is mounting as his family says they don’t know if he’s still alive. On Monday, his mother, Laila Soueif, waited for 10 hours outside the gates of the desert prison where her son is being held, hoping to receive his weekly letter that never arrived. His family believes prison authorities may be force-feeding Abd El-Fattah. They’re now demanding proof of life as Abd El-Fattah intensified his six-month hunger strike by giving up water altogether over 50 hours ago — on Sunday, the opening day of the U.N. climate summit, COP27, in Sharm el-Sheikh. This is his sister, Sanaa Seif, speaking from Sharm el-Sheikh Monday.

Sanaa Seif: “I’m really scared. It’s now been over 24 hours where he stopped water. And I read online, like, what happens to the body, and it’s — for a normal body, he can endure maximum a week. Alaa’s body is not normal; he’s very frail. So I don’t know if we’re talking about hours or days. I’m really, really scared.”