CAIRO (AP) — Prominent Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah may be released through a pardon by the country’s president, state media reported.
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Tuesday ordered relevant authorities to look into an appeal recently petitioned by the National Council for Human Rights-Egypt calling for the release of Abdel-Fattah along with six other convicted individuals, state-run newspaper Ahram reported.
The British-Egyptian dual national has been imprisoned in Egypt since September 2019. He was sentenced to five years in prison in 2021 for spreading false news.
“This is really promising, we hope these authorities follow through with urgency and that Alaa will be reunited with us soon,” his sister, Sanaa Souief, said Tuesday in a post on X.
The National Council for Human Rights submitted a humanitarian appeal to the president Monday urging him to consider releasing Abdel-Fattah and others on humanitarian and health grounds after receiving requests from their families.
“This is in view of the critical family circumstances faced by their relatives,” the group’s appeal said. “Such a decision would represent a deeply significant moral incentive for the families of those mentioned and would substantially contribute to restoring their stability as well as their psychological and social balance.”
Abdel-Fattah should have been released last year but Egyptian authorities refused to count more than two years he spent in pre-trial detention and ordered him to be held until January 2027.
Tarek el-Awady, a human rights lawyer and member of the presidential pardon committee, told The Associated Press that Abdel-Fattah will be released within days and can instantly walk out of prison without additional release procedures.
“This is the first time the president orders authorities to look into this appeal after multiple local and international calls for his release,” el-Awady said, adding that this comes around a month after a court order was made to lift Abdel-Fattah’s name from terrorism list.
Abdel-Fattah’s detention prompted his mother, Laila Soueif, to begin a hunger strike on Sept. 29, which has left her seriously ill and frequently receiving treatment at St. Thomas’s Hospital in London. She ended her hunger strike in July after multiple appeals from her family and members of the local and international communities over her deteriorating health.
“This is the perfect opportunity to rebuild trust between citizens and the state,” el-Awady told the Associated Press of the news about the potential pardon. “Similar cases should be among the state’s priorities as this has an impact on Egypt internally and internationally. It’s also a message that the state is responding to our legitimate demands and this would emphasize stability and strength in light of the challenges Egypt is facing.”