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After spending nearly six years in prison in Egypt, British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah has been released and reunited with his family. President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi pardoned him on Monday following a request from the National Council for Human Rights. Upon his release, a video captured the 43-year-old blogger and pro-democracy activist joyously celebrating with his sister and mother at home.
Abdel Fattah was released from Wadi al-Natrun prison and was overwhelmed with emotion as he reunited with his family at his mother’s apartment in Giza. His sister, Sanaa Seif, shared her disbelief, stating, “I cannot yet comprehend that this is real.” The activist had been arrested in 2019 and sentenced to five years in prison for “spreading false news” after sharing a post about a prisoner who died from torture.
Despite his family’s belief that he should have been released in September 2024, Egyptian authorities did not count the two years he spent in pre-trial detention as time served. This led his mother, Laila Soueif, to embark on an extensive hunger strike advocating for his release. While in London, she was hospitalized twice and nearly lost her life during the 287-day strike, which ended after then-Foreign Secretary David Lammy assured Parliament that Abdel Fattah would be released.
Abdel Fattah, who rose to prominence during the 2011 uprising in Egypt that ousted President Hosni Mubarak, has been a vocal critic of the government’s crackdown on dissent. Despite acquiring British citizenship in 2021, he has not been allowed a consular visit by British diplomats. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that his arrest was unjust due to exercising his right to freedom of expression and his detention for political opinions
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