Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday granted a presidential pardon to Alaa Abdel Fattah, a leading activist and one of the most recognised figures from the 2011 uprising, after nearly a decade in and out of prison.
State-linked broadcaster Al-Qahera News confirmed that Abdel Fattah was pardoned alongside five others after the required constitutional and legal steps were completed.
The 43-year-old British-Egyptian had been arrested multiple times under successive administrations and was most recently serving a five-year sentence handed down in December 2021 for “spreading false news” over a Facebook post about alleged torture in Egyptian prisons.
His sentence was scheduled to end in September 2024, but authorities had refused to deduct his lengthy pre-trial detention from the total term.
Al-Qahera News specified that the pardon covered “Alaa Ahmed Seif El-Islam Abdel Fattah.” His release follows mounting appeals from rights groups and foreign governments, as well as repeated family campaigns. His mother, academic and activist Laila Soueif, had only recently ended a 10-month hunger strike demanding his freedom.
Abdel Fattah himself launched a partial strike in March in solidarity with her before escalating to a full hunger strike earlier this month.
News of his pardon was received with emotion by his family. His sister Sanaa Seif posted on X: “President Sisi has pardoned my brother! Mum & I are heading to the prison now to inquire from where Alaa will be released and when. I can't believe we get our lives back!” His other sister, Mona Seif, wrote moments later: “My heart is going to stop.”
Tarek al-Awady, a member of Egypt’s presidential pardons committee, confirmed that all necessary measures had been completed. “He will be released directly from Wadi al-Natrun Prison,” he told AFP, referring to a major facility on the edge of Cairo.
The pardon comes after Sisi earlier this month asked relevant authorities to review a petition filed by the state-affiliated National Council for Human Rights calling for pardons of several detainees, including Abdel Fattah.
A Cairo criminal court had also recently removed him from the country’s terrorism list after ruling that there was no evidence linking him to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
Abdel Fattah’s case has drawn global attention. The British government regularly raised his detention with Egyptian officials, including in recent discussions between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Sisi.
In May, a UN panel concluded his imprisonment was arbitrary and illegal, calling for his immediate release. UN human rights chief Volker Turk also urged Egypt to end the practice of “rotation,” where detainees are charged with new offences as their remand periods expire, describing it as a tactic undermining liberty and due process.
Since 2022, Sisi’s government has freed hundreds of political detainees and pardoned some high-profile figures, including Abdel Fattah’s lawyer Mohamed al-Baqer. However, rights groups note that many activists and opposition politicians remain in jail despite the renewed wave of releases.
