THE sister of a British citizen jailed in Egypt called today for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to understand the urgency of his case and secure his release.

Sanaa Seif warned that Alaa Abd el-Fattah could die during the 12-day Cop27 climate summit being hosted by Egypt and is pressing both British and Egyptian governments to secure the release of her brother as world leaders head to Sharm el-Sheikh.

The British-Egyptian blogger, who was first detained in 2006, has been held in prison multiple times since because of his writing.

The 40-year-old has been on hunger strike in prison for seven months, switching to a water strike last week and has now stopped consuming anything to mark the climate summit’s start, sparking fears that he could die.

Ms Seif said she was worried her brother, who looked “very, very frail” with “sunken eyes” last time she saw him in August, would die before the end of Cop27.

Mr Sunak has written a letter to Ms Seif in which he said the case is a priority for the British government.

But speaking on Sky News, Ms Seif said, “It’s good that we have a commitment from the Prime Minister’s office, but what worried me is he said we would get confirmation after the conference.

“I feel like the Prime Minister needs to understand the urgency: after the conference it could be too late.

“I know it’s not the Prime Minister’s mistake, but the Foreign Office, the embassy, they have been working on this for a very long time, and I feel like they are setting up the Prime Minister to fail in this trip.”