Alaa Abd El-Fattah is free
Egyptian pro-democracy activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah has been unexpectedly pardoned. President al-Sisi lifted the remaining prison sentence for the 43-year-old as well as for five other detainees, the presidential office announced on Monday.
Alaa Abd El-Fattah—a programmer, blogger and activist—was a leading figure in the 2011 revolution that toppled long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak. He is regarded, especially internationally, as an icon of the so-called Arab Spring. Since 2021, he has held both Egyptian and British citizenship.
The activist had already been arrested multiple times before the current president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, seized power in a coup in 2013. Shortly after the takeover, he was arrested again during protests against a law that restricted demonstrations. Since then, he has spent almost all of his time in prison.
He was most recently detained in 2019 and, in 2021, sentenced to five years in prison for allegedly spreading "false information"—a common accusation levelled against critics of the Egyptian government.
His family described the charges as politically motivated. In protest against his prison conditions, Abd El-Fattah repeatedly went on hunger strike, most recently about three weeks ago. His mother, who lives in London, joined him in solidarity.
Qantara has reported on Abd El-Fattah many times. Here is a selection of articles:
In 2011, shortly after Mubarak's fall, Abd El-Fattah wrote a letter from prison:
An Open Letter from a Cairo Prison Cell
"Instead of arresting the murderer of the blogger Khaled Said, the military imprisoned me, just before the birth of my son. The only good thing is that the protests are continuing," writes Alaa Abdel Fattah, one of the Egyptian revolution's best-known bloggers and activists
In a 2014 interview, Egyptian filmmaker Omar Hamilton discussed Abd El-Fattah shortly after his temporary release:
Freedom of expression at an all-time low
The well-known Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel-Fattah has been released on bail. Is it a sign that the powers that be in Cairo are ready to allow increased freedom of expression? Egyptian filmmaker and activist Omar Hamilton says it's not. Interview by Sella Oneko
That same year, Abd El-Fattah's father, Ahmed Seif al-Islam, one of Egypt's most important human rights activists, passed away. An obituary:
An indomitable fighter and visionary
Ahmed Seif al-Islam was one of Egypt's most important human rights activists. He died in late August at the age of 63 following a heart operation. An obituary by Andrea Backhaus in Cairo
In 2022, a book of texts by Abd El-Fattah was published, reviewed by Jannis Hagmann:
"You have not yet been defeated"
Alaa Abd el-Fattah, arguably Egypt’s most prominent democracy activist, has just been handed another lengthy prison sentence. Despite this, a book of his writing has recently been published. It reveals the former Tahrir Square activist as a reflective, left-wing intellectual. Jannis Hagmann read the book
In 2022, when Abd El-Fattah went on hunger strike, Diana Hodali wrote a portrait of the activist:
Alaa Abdel-Fattah im Hungerstreik
Alaa Abdel-Fattah ist eine Ikone von Ägyptens Protestbewegung in 2011. Heute sitzt er im Gefängnis, weil das Regime mit allen Mitteln verhindern will, dass der populäre Aktivist öffentlich wirken kann.
The following year, Abd El-Fattah's sister Sanaa Seif demanded her brother's release in an interview with Qantara:
"Egypt's regime must overcome its paranoia"
President Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi is driven by the fear of a new uprising, says activist Sanaa Seif. In interview, she talks about the fight to release her brother Alaa Abdel Fattah – and why the West should exert more pressure. Andrea Backhaus met up with her in London
Last February, an anthology on prison literature was published, an initiative that also originated with Abd El-Fattah's mother, Laila Soueif. It includes a text by Abd El-Fattah himself:
Egypt's political prisoners speak
A new anthology gathers the words, drawings and memories of Egyptian prisoners—some well-known, many anonymous—who document life inside the carceral state.
© Qantara.de