Egypt: Imprisoned Christian Activist Launches Hunger Strike in Protest at Maltreatment

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Prominent Yemeni Christian activist Abdulbaqi Saeed Abdo has started a hunger strike from prison in Egypt in protest at how the Egyptian government has treated him, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.

Abdo first came to Egypt seeking asylum for religious persecution in Yemen, ICC said. However, he was arrested by Egyptian authorities in 2021 for comments he made in a private Facebook group that compared Islam unfavorably to Christianity.

A proponent of free speech and freedom of religion, Abdo was charged with joining a terrorist group, having contempt for Islam, and discriminating against Islam, ICC said. He has been in prison since his arrest and has said in a letter to his family that he has been medical treatment for chest pains.

Writing to his family from prison, Abdo explained his strike action: “I am going to increase my strike in stages until I make the strike complete during the coming weeks. And the reason for my strike was that they arrested me without any legal justification. They did not convict me for any violation of the law. And they did not set me free during my remand imprisonment which ended 8 months ago.”

In a recent statement, Abdo’s wife said: “My husband, Abdulbaqi Saeed, has been detained in Egyptian prisons since December 2021 without any real charges against him. This was only because he spoke about his religious beliefs on social media. He has now completed two years, eight months in pretrial detention, which is in violation of Egypt law.”

“My husband suffers from heart, liver, and kidney diseases, and his health condition is deteriorating. He started a medication strike two weeks ago and plans to escalate to a full hunger strike gradually over the next month in protest of his unjust and arbitrary detention,” Mrs Abdo emphasized.

Muslim-majority Egypt ranks 38 on the Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

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