CAIRO
The family of detained U.S.-Egyptian activist Mohamed Sultan, said to have been on a hunger strike for almost one year, has said he had begun drinking liquids amid "increased physical and psychological torture" in prison.
"We are petrified by the thought of Mohamed's current health condition," Sultan's family said on Facebook on Wednesday.
The family also posted what they said was a recent photo of Sultan, in which the frail, emaciated activist appeared to be resting with his eyes closed.
"We have been pleading with Mohamed to break his hunger strike due to his dire condition, the stepped-up torture tactics being used against him, and the 'suicide attempt' story being pushed by the authorities," the family said, maintaining that Sultan had refused to end his 359-day strike.
The family called on the U.S. government and human rights groups to push for Sultan's "immediate release" after an Egyptian court rejected a release request lodged in October by the U.S. consulate in Cairo, which had been the fourth request for the 27-year-old's release.
Sultan, who holds dual Egyptian-U.S. citizenship, is said to have been on hunger strike since Jan. 26 of last year to protest his ongoing detention pending trial on violence-related charges – charges his family and lawyers assert are politically-motivated.
Sultan, the son of detained Islamist figure Salah Sultan, was arrested from his home in mid-2013 after security forces violently dispersed two protest camps set up by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi, killing hundreds of demonstrators in the process.
Before his arrest, Sultan had been an active member of the "Anti-Coup Alliance," a component of the National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy, which demands Morsi's reinstatement as president.
Since the army ousted Morsi – Egypt's first freely elected president and a Muslim Brotherhood leader – in July of 2013, Egypt's military-backed government has waged a harsh crackdown on political dissent that has left hundreds dead and thousands behind bars.
