University of Cambridge academics and students will participate in a series of 24 hour hunger strikes this month.

The “symbolic” hunger strikes are intended to show solidarity with over 140 political prisoners in Egypt, who are also on hunger strike in an attempt to protest the abuse and torture of detainees.

Mona Al-Qazzaz, a Biochemistry PhD candidate, and Anne Alexander, the co-ordinator of the university digital humanities network, are both leading the campaign.

They are joined by Owen Holland, the English PhD student who was sent down for an unprecedented seven term stretch after protesting against the Universities Minister David Willetts in 2012.

The organizers stress that students and academics in Egypt have been on the “frontline of repression”, with over 130 students being arrested in the past week alone. The University of Alexandria’s Faculty of Engineering was “stormed” by security forces on the 14th October, using tear gas and rubber bullets against students.

They also cite that at least 900 students have been detained over the past year and that 10 are participating in the hunger strikes in Egyptian jails. In the case of a 26 year old Egyptian-American citizen, Mohamed Soltan, Amnesty International has come forward condemning how Egyptian authorities have punished the "critically ill” student with solitary confinement and a lack of proper medical care.

According to human rights activists, around 40,000 people have been detained, many in poor conditions without charge or trial, since July 2013, a statistic which the activists describe as “the worst phase of human rights violations in its modern history”.

Al-Qazzaz, Alexander and Holland hope that University of Cambridge academics and students will stand alongside their Egyptian counterparts. Representatives from the campaign will be outside the Alison Richard Building at the Sidgwick Site from 1pm on the 21st October to help students sign a collective protest letter from university students and staff about the repression in Egypt.