By Rana Muhammad Taha

CAIRO, Aug 19 (Aswat Masriya) - Jailed political activist and blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah has gone on hunger strike pending his release from jail, his family announced on Tuesday.

Abdel Fattah was arrested in June shortly after being convicted of violating the protest law, among other charges. He was allowed, alongside his jailed sister Sanaa Seif to visit their comatose father Ahmad Seif Hamad in hospital early Sunday.

According to a statement released by Abdel Fattah's family on Facebook, the jailed activist was not aware of his father's worsening health condition at the time of the visit.

"Alaa came to hospital on Sunday happy and reassured, holding flowers and looking forward to talking to his father," the statement read. "He was surprised to find his father unconscious in the intensive care unit."

Abdel Fattah's sister Mona Seif, who founded in 2011 the No Military Trials for Civilians group, said on Sunday her father suffered a cardiac arrest on Friday afternoon for a few minutes before he was resuscitated, to remain unconscious since then. 

"The sight of his father ill and unconscious in bed was a turning point for Alaa," the statement read. "At the end of the visit, he decided he will not cooperate with this absurd and unjust situation even if it costs him his life."

Abdel Fattah's family accused the authorities of preventing him from visiting his father in hospital until the latter lost consciousness. 

Seif said on Sunday the family had requested the political activists' visit to their father 10 days before the public prosecution authorised it.

"We hold this regime accountable for the safety of Alaa, who has gone on hunger strike starting Monday, August 18 and until his release," the family said in its statement.

Mahmoud Belal, among Abdel Fattah's defence team, said he was prevented alongside the defendant's five other lawyers from visiting him in jail on Tuesday. The defence team was denied the visit by the Tora prison administration despite acquiring permission from the public prosecution, Belal said.

"The prison administration claimed that Alaa and other youth prisoners were stirring trouble," Belal said. He stressed that the law gives the lawyer the right to visit his client in jail at any time.

Abdel Fattah has been detained three times since the January 25 uprising in 2011, which toppled former President Hosni Mubarak. In 2011, he was jailed for two months for allegedly assaulting soldiers during attacks by security forces against a predominantly Coptic protest outside the Maspero building in October. 

He was arrested from his home in November last year for illegal assembly, blocking roads, attacking a police officer and stealing his radio. Though released in March, Abdel Fattah was sent back to jail on June 11 after the court sentenced him to 15 years in absentia for the same charge. He has been in jail since then while being retried.

Abdel Fattah's family described the charges leveled against him during the three incidents as "false".

Abdel Fattah's sister Sanaa Seif was meanwhile arrested on June 21 while taking part in a march calling for the repeal of the protest law and the release of all those arrested on background of the law. She has been referred to a misdemeanour court, alongside 23 other protesters, for illegal assembly as well as other charges.

The protest law, issued by former interim President Adli Mansour in November to regulate peaceful assembly, has long been the epicentre of wide criticism by domestic and international human rights organisations which say it violates international standards for peaceful protests.