Here in New York, a vigil was held Monday in solidarity with Laila Soueif, who’s been hospitalized in London after eight months on hunger strike to demand the release of her son, Egyptian British activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah. She has been pressuring British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to secure his release. This is Farida El Hefni at yesterday’s vigil.

Farida El Hefni: “This is not just about one prisoner. This is about the brutal machinery of Sisi’s regime. Egypt’s prisons are bloated with over 80,000 prisoners, and those are just the numbers that we are aware of, that don’t include even the forcibly disappeared. So, Laila Soueif, in her fight, is not just fighting for her son’s life, but for all the political detainees in Egypt’s prisons, who we only hope could be free one day.”

Laila Soueif has vowed to continue her hunger strike despite doctors warning her blood sugar has dropped so dramatically, she’s now at risk of “sudden death.”