Egypt pardons British activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah after six years in prison
British activist pardoned by Egypt following 240-day hunger strike
- Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has pardoned British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah after he spent six years in prison.
- Abd el-Fattah, considered one of Egypt’s most prominent political prisoners, is expected to be released from Wadi Natron Prison within days.
- His mother, Laila Soueif, staged a high-profile 240-day hunger strike in protest of his imprisonment, which led to her hospitalisation last year.
- The pardon follows extensive local and international campaigns for his release, including during the COP27 climate summit in 2022 and a UN investigation concluding his detention was illegal.
- Abd el-Fattah was initially sentenced in 2014 for protesting without permission and later re-arrested in 2019 on accusations of spreading fake news.