BRITISH-EGYPTIAN political prisoner Alaa Abd el-Fattah will be ramping up his hunger strike from the first day of Cop27 by not drinking water, his sisters said today.

Mr Fattah is a pro-democracy writer who has been imprisoned in Egypt’s Wadi al-Natroun prison for nine years.

He has been on hunger strike for the last seven months, increasing the intensity of his protest in the lead-up to the international climate summit — which begins on Sunday in Egypt.

Since Tuesday, Mr Fattah has only been consuming water.

Speaking outside the Foreign Office today, Mona Seif raised concerns that her brother was escalating his action to a water strike while his body is “already so fragile.”

She said: “Alaa is not desperate to die, these are the actions of a man who is desperate to end this ordeal and be reunited with his family.

“In the Egyptian regime’s eye, he is one of the symbols of the Egyptian people’s attempts to end the dictatorship of the military regime.

“For some, he is a writer. But [for us] he is an amazing brother, a son and most importantly he is a father.

“His son is on the autism spectrum and has been severely impacted by the ordeal and the disappearance of his father from his life.

“If Alaa is not freed soon, he is going to die in prison.”

Ms Seif said that the British government has finally acknowledged the case, but the family are hoping for quick action to free Mr el-Fattah and hold the Egyptian authorities to account.

She said that while it was reassuring to have affirmations from the government and the Foreign Office that the case was a priority, they had received the same assurances 10 months earlier and were worried that it was not enough.

“The release of an innocent man whose only crime is writing articles should not be that difficult and should definitely not require him to put his life at risk,” she said.

“A water strike will be a ticking clock and it will be a matter of days before we lose him.

“It will also be a grave loss for [the struggle of] thousands of political prisoners in Egypt.”

Global supporters for Mr Fattah’s release include British MPs, US lawmakers, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, Reporters Without Borders, the TUC and climate change activist Greta Thunberg.