Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has directed authorities to consider granting a pardon to jailed Egyptian-British activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, according to a statement by the National Council for Human Rights on Tuesday.
Abd el-Fattah, 43, is one of Egypt’s most prominent pro-democracy voices, renowned for his role in the 2011 Arab Spring uprising that toppled longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak. He has spent much of the past decade in prison under successive charges linked to his activism.
The rights council said Sisi’s order followed a petition seeking clemency for several prisoners, with Abd el-Fattah listed among seven names. The development comes just days after his mother, Laila Soueif, revealed he had resumed a hunger strike on September 1 to protest his ongoing detention.
Currently serving a five-year sentence handed down in December 2021 for reposting information about a prisoner’s death, Abd el-Fattah has long been a symbol of resistance against Egypt’s sweeping crackdown on dissent since Sisi’s rise to power in 2013.
He had previously been imprisoned in 2014 for unauthorized protests, released on probation in 2019, and detained again later that year during rare anti-government demonstrations.
His family, who come from a long tradition of political activism, have consistently campaigned for his release. Abd el-Fattah also holds British citizenship through his mother, and London has repeatedly pressed Cairo to free him. In February, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer personally appealed to Sisi, but without success.
Earlier this year, Abd el-Fattah staged a hunger strike in solidarity with his ailing mother, moving to a partial strike in July after being removed from Egypt’s terrorism list. His case has drawn international concern and remains a focal point in debates over Egypt’s human rights record.
A decision on the pardon has not yet been announced.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
