 Months into his imprisonment, Soltan began an open-ended hunger strike that lasted 489 days to protest his unjust imprisonment and the inhumane detention conditions.On 30 May 2015, shortly after an Egyptian judge sentenced him to life in prison along with 37 others, including 13 journalists, the United States government spoke out against the sentencing and the White House condemned Soltan's sentencing, and demanded his immediate release.According to a Guardian report citing an independent medical report facilitated by the US embassy, Soltan had lost at least a third of his bodyweight and was unable to stand unassisted on his 100th day of hunger strike in jail.