FEARS are growing over the health of leading Saudi women’s-rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, who has started a prison hunger strike in protest at being denied telephone contact with her family.

It is understood that Ms Hathloul is refusing food until prison authorities reinstate her weekly phone calls with her family.

Her sister, Lina al-Hathloul, who lives in Belgium, said that their parents, who also act as their incarcerated daughter’s lawyers, visited her on Monday and said that her health was deteriorating.

Lina al-Hathloul gave no further details, but has previously told the Morning Star that she feared for her sister’s well-being.

Her parents were allowed to visit after complaining that they had not heard from their daughter since June 9.

Previous visits had been denied on grounds of coronavirus or other unspecified reasons, with decisions on access described by the family as often arbitrary.

Lina al-Hathloul said that the family had still not been given any details on the progress of the case, with the latest court hearings delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Loujain al-Hathloul was kidnapped while driving on the highway between Dubai and Abu Dhabi in April 2018 when her car was surrounded by vehicles.

Saudi intelligence services blindfolded her and put her on a plane to Riyadh where she was interrogated.

Ms Hathloul was taken to prison in May 2018 where she has remained ever since.

It is alleged that she has been severely tortured with electric shocks and beatings on the soles of her feet.

She reported being threatened with rape by a senior Saudi official who oversaw the interrogation and tortured her throughout Ramadan.

Authorities have since portrayed her as a “traitor,” accusing her of being in contact with a British diplomat, foreign journalists and human-rights organisations, along with an EU delegation to Saudi Arabia.

She shot to prominence as one of the reactionary regime’s leading women’s-rights activists when she challenged the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia, a law which was finally overturned two years ago.

She is accused by the authorities of “harming the interests of the country” through her actions. Saudi Arabia denies the allegations of torture.

The Prisoners of Conscience campaign group has previously denounced the continued denial of her right to communicate as “legally unacceptable” and her continued detention as invalid.