British-Egyptian pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel Fattah has told his family in a letter that he has ended a seven-month hunger strike in prison in Egypt. “I’ve broken my strike. I’ll explain everything on Thursday,” says the letter to his mother, dated Monday. His sister said she felt “cautiously relieved”, but that the family needed to see him with their own eyes. It comes a day after they were handed a letter from Abdel Fattah saying he had resumed drinking water on Saturday. The 40 year old started refusing water on 6 November to coincide with the start of the COP27 climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, hoping to pressure Egypt into at least allowing British consular officials to visit him. Last Thursday, his mother was told by prison officials that he had undergone an unspecified “medical intervention with the knowledge of a judicial authority”. Egypt’s public prosecution meanwhile asserted that he was in “good health”, without providing any proof. The UK, UN, US and several other countries have called for his release.(BBC)…[+]