Egyptian mother on hunger strike to free blogger son from prisonGood for the Times. Now what about the rest of the mainstream media?
November 9, 2011 | 7:35 am
REPORTING FROM CAIRO -- The mother of a prominent Egyptian blogger has gone on a hunger strike until her son is released from jail after his arrest on what human rights groups call trumped-up charges to silence critics of the nation’s ruling military council.
Laila Soueif, an activist and mathematics professor at Cairo University, told the media she will not eat until her son, Alaa Abdel Fattah, is freed from military custody. The case has put further pressure on the generals who have run Egypt since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in February.
Abdel Fattah was detained on accusations he incited sectarian violence last month during a protest by Coptic Christians. Armed thugs and military police attacked the demonstrators, killing 24 Christians amid growing religious tensions. Abdel Fattah refused to be questioned by military prosecutors, saying the army, not him, was responsible for the deaths.
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Background here.
UPDATE (11 November): The story has been reprinted in the San Francisco Chronicle.