CAIRO: Potential Presidential nominee Bothaina Kamel announced on Monday she would go on a hunger strike in opposition to military tribunals for civilians and in support of Leila Soueif, the mother of detained political activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, who has been on a hunger strike for the past week. Kamel said on her personal Twitter account that she will start the hunger strike on November 18. “I will be joining my dear freind and idol Laila Seif in her hunger strike, we achieve their rights or die like them,” she wrote on the micro-blogging site. Fattah, one of the country's most prominent bloggers, is currently detained by a military prosecutor and accused of inciting violence against the military and stealing weapons during the October 9 protest that saw 27 Copts killed by the military when the protesters arrived at the State TV building. The events of that night are now considered a massacre by political activists. Fattah refused to be interrogated by the military and asked to be transferred to a civil prosecution. He was then handed 15 days in prison as a response. His detention was renewed for another 15 days on Sunday. Kamel is the first woman in Egypt to announce her candidacy for the country's top position. Kamel, who comes from a media background, has been an open critic of the ruling military council for their crackdown on freedoms. She was summoned late last summer and interrogated for over five hours, for views she expressed that the military council's “thoughts were out of line.” She was later released, even more determined to expose army violations. “I am still under siege just like the Mubarak days,” Kamel tweetted on Monday, complaining that her opinions are banned from the Egyptian media. Other activists have joined Fattah's mother on hunger strikes until the activist, who is also expecting his first child, is released. BM
