CAIRO: Prominent British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah was released from prison in Cairo, his family said on Tuesday, prompting an emotional reunion with his loved ones after a pardon from President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Abdel Fattah, 43, was a leading figure in Egypt’s 2011 uprising and an outspoken critic of the country’s authorities who had been jailed for the better part of the past decade.

The British-Egyptian activist is one of six people whose sentences President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi commuted, according to state media.

He was arrested in 2019 in Egypt and sentenced in 2021 to five years in jail for "spreading false news".