Doctors have said there was a high risk of sudden death for Laila Soueif, mother of Alaas Abdel el-Fattah

Laila Soueif, lying in a hospital bed after refusing all food for 152 days in a bid to free her jailed son, agreed on Wednesday night to be put on a glucose drip, though it is only likely to delay her full collapse by days.

She told the Guardian she had taken the step as part of a deal she had reached with her children that they would be allowed one chance to intervene before she collapses.