The National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) held discussions with a group of hunger striking activists occupying the council’s headquarters, according to a press statement released by the group of hunger strikers.
The group announced they would start full hunger strikes in solidarity with their jailed counterparts on Sunday.
They stated they would continue their hunger strike and the sit-in inside the NHCR headquarters until the controversial Protest Law is cancelled and all legal cases involving breaking this law are dismissed.
They are also demanding the release of all political prisoners, whom they called “prisoners of opinion”, regardless of their political affiliations.
In the session, the hunger strikers expressed their objection to the council’s behaviour regarding the media, as the council prevented journalists from entering and covering the hunger- strikers’ sit-in on Sunday night and Monday morning.
According to the statement, the NCHR offered the group the council’s official assistance by offering to hire a set of lawyers to help the hunger strikers and asked that the group disperse their sit-in in return.
“Our cause is not a personal one, but it is a tool to achieve the greater purpose,” the group said in a statement.
“Change is coming, the dream is staying, the revolution continues,” the statement read.
The NCHR expressed concern over the well-being of the seven students striking in their headquarters, Egyptian state television reported.
The council’s executive committee held a meeting to discuss the developments of the hunger strike, according to an NHCR statement.
The NCHR also decided to form a committee to follow up on the activists’ sit-in.
According to the statement, the executive committee “advises the strikers and informs them of their right to express their demands, but in a legal manner taking into consideration the current events that the community is undergoing, and informs them of the council’s efforts to amend the Protest Law”.
Meanwhile, the number of hunger strikers currently in Egyptian jails is at least 90.
Ibrahim Al-Yamany, on hunger strike for more than 145 days, has been denied “desperately needed” medical care for more than 21 days despite his deteriorating health, Freedom for the Brave, an initiative that supports detainees, reported.
“It is now the duty of the Doctors Syndicate’s and the NCHR to move,” said the Freedom for the Brave on their official site.
