Family say campaigner, who has a son in Brighton, will be able to travel freely between UK and Cairo months after his release from Egyptian jail
The British-Egyptian dissident Alaa Abd el-Fattah has arrived in London after the Egyptian government lifted a travel ban that it had imposed on him despite releasing him from jail in September.
Abd el-Fattah had been held in jail nearly continuously for 10 years, mainly due to expressing his opposition to the treatment of dissidents by the Egyptian government. He had been detained in jail two years beyond his five-year sentence as the Cairo authorities refused to recognise the period he held in pre-trial detention as part of his time served.
A previous attempt by Abd el-Fattah to leave Cairo for London in November after his release from jail, was blocked by the security forces a month ago. He has since been trying to negotiate an agreement whereby he is allowed to travel freely between Cairo and London and not be permanently excluded from Egypt if he came to the UK.
His arrival in London was announced by his mother, Laila Soueif, on Facebook.
