Nobel winners call attention to Egypt political prisoners

LONDON (AP) — A group of winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature have urged world leaders to raise human rights issues as they visit Egypt for the COP27 climate change conference. In a letter sent to various heads of state, the group of 15 Nobel Laureates asked the visiting diplomats and politicians to raise the case of political prisoners in Egypt, especially that of prominent imprisoned activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah. The activist’s family says he plans to escalate his hunger strike to include no water on the conference’s first day. The 40-year-old Abdel-Fattah spent most of the past decade behind bars and his detention has become a symbol of Egypt’s return to autocratic rule since the country’s 2011 popular uprising.