Egyptian activist and blogger Alaa Abd el-Fattah gives an interview at his home in Cairo on May 17, 2019. KHALED DESOUKI / AFP
Egyptian President Abd el-Fattah el-Sissi issued a pardon on Monday, September 22, for prominent activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, who has been jailed for the better part of the past decade, state-linked media reported. The 43-year-old British-Egyptian national, who was pardoned alongside five others, was a leading figure in Egypt's 2011 uprising and was jailed under each administration since. Following his latest arrest in 2019, Abd el-Fattah was sentenced in December 2021 to five years in prison for "spreading false news" after sharing a Facebook post about alleged torture in Egyptian jails.
Sisi pardoned "a number of convicted persons, after taking the constitutional and legal procedures in this regard," said Al-Qahera News, which is linked to Egypt's state intelligence service. "The pardon includes... Alaa Ahmed Seif El-Islam Abd el-Fattah," it added.
Alaa's mother, activist and academic Laila Soueif, recently ended a 10-month hunger strike demanding his release. Abd el-Fattah himself has been on hunger strike since the start of September, following a partial strike that began in March in solidarity with his mother.
