Judy: Global leaders are meeting
at a pivotal conference in Egypt
to discuss climate change.
But human rights is
overshadowing the beginning of
the so-called cop27 summit in
the well known red sea resort
city of sharmel sheikh.
The family of one of Egypt's
most prominent political
prisoners says he could die in
detention within days,
highlighting the Egyptian
governmenta™™s widespread
crackdown on its critics.
Here is Nick schifrin.
Nick: No one better symbolizes
Egypt's loss hope than its
regimes ridge -- repression than
the activists and software
developer who helped drive the
2011 revolution.
In the last decade, he spent
more than nine years in prison.
Last December, he was sentenced
for five years for what the
regime called false news,
highlighting human rights
abuses.
After eating only 100 calories a
day for seven months, he is
refusing to drink even water.
>> It feels like he cannot
control his destiny.
That someone has decided that it
is his destiny that he will die
in prison.
The only thing he can control is
the timeline.
He is choosing the timeline that
will be most embarrassing.
Nick: His youngest sister, a
prominent human rights activist,
has been jailed three times in
the last decade.
Overnight, she arrived at the
site of Cobb 27 to pressure
international leaders to get her
brother released.
Are you worried he could die?
>> I'm really worried he could
die.
I respect his decision and I
think it is the right decision.
I understand where he is coming
from, and I agree that this is
not a life worth living, neither
for him or for us.
His family outside.
As his sister, I cannot give up
hope, I still have hope.
Nick: No Egyptian family has
fought for justice more
tirelessly than them.
Their late father was the
country's leading human rights
lawyer.
The middle sister is currently
campaigning for Allah in London.
Their mother has protested
against six governments over 42
years.
She was born in London, and last
year, Allah was granted British
citizenship.
New British prime minister rishi
sunak is attending the climate
conference and met sisi, a
British official says in a
statement, sunak raised Allah's
plight, expressing his serious
concerns about this case, and
calling for Allah's release.
State department spokesman net
price did not go that far.
>> We have made the point to the
Egyptians that improvements when
it comes to issues of human
rights, only serve to strengthen
the basis of the bilateral
relationship.
Nick: Is the British government,
is the west doing enough to try
to help your brother?
>> No.
I'm worried they have realized
the urgency too late.
I can see that they feel the
heat.
But they are timid when it comes
to raising human rights
concerns.
Nick: Human rights organizations
accuse Egypt's president of
imprisoning more than 60,000
Egyptians across society.
>> I believe we should all
concentrate --
Nick: Today at the conference, a
foreign ministers suggested to
CNBC that there would be no
diplomacy to release Allah.
>> Within the penal system.
>> We are suffocating.
There is no breathing room here.
The people who are going to
create action and create
pressure on our policymakers and
our oil companies to operate
better tools for the climate are
the same people who are
languishing in Egyptian prison.
In order to get any action
toward the planet, you need to
have space for people to speak
up.
You need to have sacred space.
That does not exist in Egypt.
Nick: World leaders are trying
to avoid the death of the
planet, but if nothing is done,
their work could be overshadowed
by the death of one man.
For the pbs newshour, I am Nick
schifrin.