CAIRO, Jan 7, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The mother of British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah reached the 100th day of her hunger strike protesting her son's continued imprisonment on Tuesday, according to her family.

Laila Soueif, a 68-year-old mathematics professor, has called on the UK government to do more to secure the release of her son, a longtime dissident who has spent much of the last decade behind bars.

"Unfortunately the government seems to be waiting for me to be hospitalised before they act decisively to secure my son's freedom," she said in a statement.

Her family said Soueif has survived on "nothing but black coffee, herbal tea and three packets of rehydration salts a day" since September 29.

Her son was expected to be released on that day after completing his five-year sentence for "spreading false news" by sharing a Facebook post on torture in Egypt's prisons.

But he wasn't freed and his family learnt that the two years he spent in pre-trial detention did not count towards his sentence. Abdel Fattah, a computer programmer and writer, has remained in prison since.

His case has drawn support from politicians, celebrities and advocacy groups including Reporters Without Borders (RSF) which on Tuesday said Abdel Fattah "must be immediately released".

"No mother should ever be in a position where she feels that her only recourse is to put her own life in danger," RSF's UK director Fiona O'Brien said in a statement.

"That 100 days have now passed is a shocking indictment of Britain's failure to defend its citizen," she said.

Soueif and her two daughters have held near-weekly protests outside the Foreign Office in London in recent months, calling on Foreign Secretary David Lammy to intervene.

Britain's top diplomat met Soueif in November, following questioning from Parliament on the government's approach to Abdel Fattah's case, amid claims it had prioritised trade and diplomatic ties with Cairo.

Abdel Fattah, 43, was a key figure in the 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule over Egypt.

He continued to be a voice of dissent in the following years, protesting a government crackdown in which rights groups say tens of thousands have been jailed.

Cairo has in recent years made overtures to repair its human rights record, freeing hundreds of political prisoners.

However, rights groups say at least three times as many were arrested over the same period.