Egyptian authorities have refused to release prominent dissident Alaa Abdel Fattah, despite him completing his five-year prison sentence, according to his sister. Abdel Fattah, 42, was arrested on September 29, 2019, and later sentenced for “spreading false news” after sharing a Facebook post about police brutality. His family had called on the British government, as Abdel Fattah holds UK citizenship, to push for his release.
However, on Sunday, his sister, Mona Seif, announced on social media that the Egyptian authorities rejected their request to count the two years he spent in pre-trial detention towards his sentence. As a result, his sentence is being considered to have officially started only when it was ratified, meaning his release is now set for January 2027.
Seif previously warned that if her brother was not released by September 29, 2024, his imprisonment could effectively become indefinite. Abdel Fattah, a writer and computer programmer, has been a key figure in Egypt’s political opposition, spending much of the past decade behind bars. He has been jailed under successive Egyptian presidents since the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time ruler Hosni Mubarak.
In 2022, Abdel Fattah obtained British citizenship through his UK-born mother while still in prison. His case has drawn international attention, with rights groups highlighting that Egypt holds tens of thousands of political prisoners, often subjected to harsh conditions and abuses while in detention. Despite pressure from human rights advocates, Egypt has shown little willingness to release Abdel Fattah, symbolizing the country’s broader crackdown on dissent.
