El-Sisi mulling pardon for jailed activist Alaa Abdel Fattah
2 Min Read
Egypt’s president reviews petition to pardon Alaa Abdel Fattah, as family hopes for his release amid hunger strike and ongoing prison term.
-
Egyptian activist and blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah in front of the police station from which he was released in 2011 in Cairo, Egypt (Social media)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Tuesday instructed officials to review a petition for a presidential pardon covering several detainees, including prominent activist and blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah, who holds both Egyptian and British citizenship, according to the National Council for Human Rights.
The council listed Abdel Fattah among seven names recommended for pardon.
Tarek El-Awady, a member of the Presidential Pardon Committee, told Reuters that the decision to release Abdel Fattah is expected “within a few days.”
Family welcomes possible release
Reacting to the news, Abdel Fattah’s sister, Sanaa, wrote on X: “This is very promising. We hope the authorities move quickly so that Alaa can be reunited with us soon.”
Earlier this month, his mother, Laila Soueif, revealed in a social media post that Abdel Fattah had gone on a new hunger strike on September 1 to protest his continued detention.
Icon of the Arab uprisings
Abdel Fattah rose to prominence during the 2011 Arab uprisings that led to the ouster of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, and has since been regarded by many as a "symbol of resistance against authoritarian rule."
He has been a vocal critic of the crackdown on dissent that followed the military’s takeover of power in 2013 under then-defense minister Sisi.
Currently, Abdel Fattah is serving a five-year sentence handed down in December 2021 after he shared a social media post about the death of a fellow prisoner.
