Alaa Abdel Fattah has been released. It is a significant milestone in the struggle for human rights

Alaa Abdel Fattah, an Egyptian–British pro-democracy activist, writer and software developer who became a prominent voice during the 2011 revolution in Egypt, was released on Monday, 22 September after spending nearly six years in prison. 

He has been detained intermittently since 2014. His most recent detention began on 28 September 2019, while he was briefly out on probation from an earlier sentence; he was then placed in pre-trial detention on charges of spreading false news and misusing social media that human rights organizations have described as baseless.

In December 2021, following a trial that UN experts characterised as unfair, he was sentenced to five years for “spreading false news” - a conviction that stemmed from sharing a Facebook post about torture. Charges such as “spreading false news” and “belonging to a terrorist group” are frequently used in Egypt against individuals who are politically inconvenient.

Egyptian authorities refused to release Alaa in September 2024 after the completion of the five-year sentence; he was ultimately released one year later under a presidential pardon. His release is the result of the long-term efforts of hundreds of activists and dozens of NGOs around the world – from demonstrations and gatherings in London, to actions during the COP27 climate conference, to international social media campaigns. A massive contribution came from his closest family. His sister Sana served 18 months in prison in 2021, and his mother Leila’s health was seriously endangered during nearly 300 days on a hunger strike last year.

People in Need has consistently raised its voice in support of those who have been silenced, and continues to call for freedom and justice. We also recall passages from Alaa’s book You Have Not Yet Been Defeated, a collection of essays and letters many of which were smuggled out of Tora Prison and publicly read during an event in 2022:

“All that’s asked of us is that we fight for what’s right. We don’t have to be winning while we fight for what’s right; we don’t have to be strong while we fight for what’s right; we don’t have to be prepared while we fight for what’s right, or to have a good plan, or be well organised. All that’s asked of us is that we don’t stop fighting for what’s right.”

It is imperative that Alaa is permitted to travel freely to the United Kingdom in order to be reunited with his 13-year-old son Khaled, from whom he has been separated for most of Khaled’s life.

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