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NEW YORK (AP) — The latest honor for Salman Rushdie was a prize kept secret until minutes before he rose from his seat to accept it. On Tuesday night, the author received the first-ever Lifetime Disturbing the Peace Award, presented by the Vaclav Havel Center on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Alaa Abdel-Fattah, the imprisoned Egyptian activist, was given the Disturbing the Peace Award to a Courageous Writer at Risk. Rushdie, 76, noted that last month he had received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, and now was getting a prize for disturbing the peace, leaving him wondering which side of “the fence” he was on. “He was inspirational to me as for many, many writers, and to receive an award in his name is a great honor,” Rushdie added.

Persons: Salman Rushdie, Vaclav Havel, Rushdie, “, ” Rushdie, Azar Nafisi, Vaclav, Havel, Lesley Stahl, Alaa Abdel, Fattah, Adhaf Soueif, ”, ” Abdel, Hosni Mubarak, Ruhollah Khomeini's Organizations: Lolita, Library Foundation, Communist, CBS, Abdel, Trade Locations: Western New York, Tehran ”, Czech, Czechoslovakia

☆ Jailed Egyptian hunger striker is hospitalized, family says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Egyptian prison authorities have intervened medically with jailed pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah, who this week escalated a food and hunger strike demanding his release, coinciding with Egypt’s hosting of the U.N. climate summit, his mother said. Abdel-Fattah’s mother, Leila Soueif, said she spoke to prison authorities by phone and asked them if her son was undergoing any medical procedure and they said he was. She asked “if it was by force, and they said no” and told her, “Alaa is good,” she told The Associated Press. Soueif has been waiting outside the prison every day this week, asking for proof of life for her son. World leaders and activists have repeatedly called for Egyptian authorities to release the activist.

☆ Egypt human rights record under fire as it hosts COP27 climate conference
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Hyder Abbasi | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

When world leaders, diplomats, campaigners and scientists from nearly 200 countries arrive for the United Nations climate change conference in Egypt Monday, their focus will be on curbing global warming. They have called for the world leaders attending the event, known as COP27, to confront the Egyptian government over its alleged human-rights abuses, particularly its treatment of political prisoners. In 2019, he was jailed for “joining a terrorist group” and “spreading false news” to undermine national security. It said that Fattah, 40, a British national, was being prosecuted because of his activism and social media posts highlighting human rights violations allegedly committed by the Egyptian government. Amnesty’s head, Agnes Callamard, warned Sunday that Egypt had no more than 72 hours to save the jailed dissident's life.

☆ Jailed British-Egyptian activist escalates hunger strike by refusing water as COP27 gets underway
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — Jailed British-Egyptian citizen Alaa Abdel-Fattah stepped up his hunger strike by refusing water, ratcheting up fears for the life of one of the country's leading rights activists just as world leaders arrive in Egypt for the start of the COP27 climate summit. Amnesty International chief Agnes Callamard said Sunday that authorities had less than three days to save Abdel-Fattah's life, warning that failure to intervene would overshadow the U.N.'s flagship climate conference. The 40-year-old has stopped drinking water in a desperate attempt to pressure Egyptian authorities to allow him U.K. consular access. The escalation of Abdel-Fattah's hunger strike has prompted grave concerns for the prominent human rights activist and writer, who had consumed just 100 calories a day for more than 200 days. Egypt is hosting the COP27 climate summit in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh through to Nov. 18.

☆ Hunger striker's sister flies in to Egypt COP27 to campaign for his release
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Sanaa Seif, sister of jailed Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, speaks to Reuters upon her arrival to press for his release during COP27, at the Red Sea resort in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, November 7, 2022. Sunak has said he will raise Abd el-Fattah's case with Egypt's leadership. Abd el-Fattah had informed his family that he would stop drinking water on Sunday in an escalation of his protest. Abd el-Fattah rose to prominence with Egypt's 2011 uprising but has been detained for most of the period since. Abd el-Fattah's family said he was only consuming minimal calories and some fibre to sustain himself earlier in the year.

☆ Egypt faces criticism over crackdown on activists ahead of COP27 climate summit
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Ivana Kottasová | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —Egypt is facing a barrage of criticism over what rights groups say is a crackdown on protests and activists, as it prepares to host the COP27 climate summit starting Sunday. According to rights groups, security forces have been setting up checkpoints on Cairo streets, stopping people and searching their phones to find any content related to the planned protests. The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), an NGO, said Wednesday that 93 people had been arrested in Egypt in recent days. Then there is a separate public venue where climate exhibitions and events take place throughout the two weeks of the summit. But rights groups said the government’s initiatives amounted to little change.

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