Egypt rights body asks Alaa Abdel-Fattah be transferred to better facility as his health deteriorates

An Egyptian government-appointed human rights body has asked the interior ministry to transfer hunger-striking prisoner Alaa Abdel-Fattah to a detention centre with better healthcare facilities, as his condition worsens.

Egypt's National Council for Human Rights said on Tuesday that its president, Moushira Khattab, had appealed to the Egyptian interior ministry for Abdel-Fattah to be transferred to the Wadi El-Natrun Rehabilitation Centre, "due to its advanced medical capabilities and the excellent care available in its medical centre".

Abdel-Fattah, one of Egypt's best-known human rights activists, has been held at the maximum-security Tora prison in the Cairo governorate since September 2019.

He has been on hunger strike there since 2 April, to protest the conditions in which he is being held.

The dual British-Egyptian national reportedly said goodbye to his loved ones earlier this month as his health continued to deteriorate.

His family and British parliamentarians have appealed for help from the UK government in securing his release, but to little avail.

Egypt's government under the president of Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has been accused by local and international rights groups of overseeing the country's worst crackdown on human rights in decades, with about 60,000 of its critics currently behind bars.